A New Breed of Slayer
by Sk8erGrl
Summary: As the battle against the First rages on Buffy and the gang get a look at their possible fate through a prophecy, and Dawn.
1. Unwanted Troubles

**A New Breed of Slayer**

**A/N: **Well, here it is! I think I've finally found an idea for a Buffy story that I actually like. There's going to be a bit of a crossover with _Angel _and all that's going on there. The story will start off during the current season and then move on into the future, I think. Tell me what you think. 

**Summary: **The Future can't be foretold with precision right? Or can it? Three people are about to find out the truth. 

**Disclaimer: **None of the characters of _Buffy or __Angel are mine and neither are any of the characters mentioned on the show at any time._

**Spoilers: **Anything up until the last episode of _Buffy _and _Angel that has aired._

**Ch 1 Unwanted Troubles**

  "I'M HOME!" Dawn Summers shouted dropping her schoolbag by the front door as she entered the Summers' home. It seemed eerily quiet for the first time since the potential slayers had arrived in Sunnydale. Only the piercing ring of a telephone penetrated that silence. Dawn looked around the house for any signs of someone being home. Sighing inwardly Dawn approached the phone and answered it. "Hello?" 

_"Um...Hi...Is this Buffy?" the voice asked. _

"No, this is Dawn," Dawn corrected her, "Who's this?" 

_"Fred. Winifred Burkle," the girl responded, "I really need to speak with Buffy Summers, the slayer."_

"Buffy's not here right now," Dawn informed the girl, "Anything I can help with?"

_"Well, I don't know," Fred sounded frustrated now._

"I can always take a message and get her to get back to you," Dawn suggested. 

_"Okay," Fred sighed, "Tell her it's really important she call Angel Investigations as soon as possible. Angelus is back." _

   The phone clattered to the floor as Buffy, Willow and the SITs entered the house. Dawn stood frozen in her spot hardly realizing that the phone was no longer pressed to her ear, her mouth hung open trying to form words. The potentials watched her curiously as Willow approached the teen. "Dawnie, what is it?" Willow asked. Dawn just blinked.

"Hello?" Buffy, who had picked up the fallen phone, said into the receiver. "Hello?" Getting no response she hung up and turned to her sister, "Dawn who was on the phone? What happened?" 

"It...It was a girl, Fred," Dawn managed, "Angelus is back." 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_(Earlier in LA.) _

   Fred, Gunn, Wesley and Conner burst though the door of the hotel just in time to see Cordelia standing over Lilah's corpse, grinning. Angelus emerged from the shadows behind her. "You spoilt a good meal," he said bitterly. 

"Well, you were taking too long," Cordelia snapped back. Angelus smirked and strapped his arm around her shoulder. The two turned to the gang who stood gaping at them. "Aw, it's about time you showed up," she cooed stroking Angelus' chest.

"Good deduction you had doubling back here," Angelus commented, "Too bad you couldn't have seen your Seer here was double crossing you." 

"Cordy?" Conner looked at her questioningly. 

"I'm not really Cordy," she informed them. She an Angelus slinked past them Cordelia stroked Conner's cheek, "Thanks for that night by the way." She winked as she and Angelus fled into the night. 

  The gang sat around the hotel staring at the ground not bothering to look at each other. They should've been able to see that Cordy, well, wasn't Cordy. Then again, how were they supposed to? Cordelia hadn't shown an inkling of evilness since they had brought her back, well until she murdered Lilah. "That's it!" Conner exclaimed angrily, "I'm not going to sit around here and be upset that we were betrayed. I'm going out there and staking Angelus." 

"Conner..." Wesley began, but the teen was already out the door followed by Gunn. Fred stayed behind waiting for Lorne. She didn't want to go out there again into the dark world. Neither Gunn nor Wesley objected as they fled after Conner. 

"That's it," she said to herself, "We need help. I'm going to get help." She took out Angel's book of contacts and dialled Buffy Summers' number. The slayer might be able to help. She had fought Angelus before. Finally, after endless ring someone picked up. 

_"Hello?" a girl's voice filled the other end. _

"Umm...hi...is this Buffy?" Fred asked.

_"No, this is Dawn," the female declared, "Who's this?" _

"Fred. Winifred Burkle," Fred informed her, "I really need to speak with Buffy Summers, the slayer." 

_"Buffy's not here right now," _Fred's hope dropped, "_Anything I can help you with?" _

"Um...I don't know," Fred sighed. She really didn't know how anyone else could help. One of the worst Vampires of all time was running around lose in the dark Los Angeles with an evil Cordelia and The Beast. 

_"I can always take a message and get her to get back to you," Dawn suggested. _

"Okay," Fred could think of nothing else, "Tell her it's really important she call Angel Investigations as soon as possible. Angelus is back." That's when a loud clash on the other line caused Fred to hold the phone away from her ear. Lorne walked in just then and Fred quickly hung up to tell him the latest. It was not good. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

_(Meanwhile, back in Sunnydale.) _

 "What's happening 'ere?" Spike wondered entering the living room immediately after Dawn informed Buffy and Willow about Angelus. No one answered. The sun which peeked through the front door burned into Spike. "Bloody 'ell! Close the door!"  

"Oh!" Molly jumped and shut the door. Spike nodded his thanks. 

"What's all this 'bout?" Spike nodded towards Willow, Buffy and Dawn who stood silently in the living room. 

"I don't know," Rona shrugged, "When we came home Dawn was standing there and the phone was on the floor. Then Dawn said something about Angelus being back." Spike frowned and stepped into closer towards the three girls. 

"This true love?" Spike asked. Dawn nodded slowly. 

"Bloody 'ell," Spike cursed. 

"Wonder who slept with him now," Willow said silently. Buffy fidgeted uncomfortably now. 

"Girls, downstairs, training," she ordered strictly. The potential all groaned and sighed before filing downstairs to the basement. Kennedy seemed most reluctant staring back at Willow before she disappeared down the stairs. "Spike," Buffy turned to him once all the girls were gone, "Where's Giles?" 

"Don't know love," Spike shrugged, "Left no word." Buffy nodded. 

"Aren't you going to call them back?" Dawn wondered. Buffy shook her head. 

"Not until Giles comes home," Buffy sighed, "I can't deal with this right now." 

"You think you'll go to LA?" Willow wondered. 

"I can't say," Buffy headed towards the basement door, "You might have to though." 

"I know," Willow nodded, "They're going to need me to re-soul Angel." 

"Maybe, maybe not," Buffy smiled slightly at her friend, "Either way you can handle it." Willow nodded sadly as Buffy too disappeared down the stairs Spike behind her. Willow and Dawn sat themselves down on the couch leaning their head back tiredly as Xander returned from work. 

"Hey ladies," he grinned walking in, "What's got you two so down?"

"Angelus," Dawn murmured. 

"What you worrying about brood boy for?" Xander wondered. 

"He's back," Dawn stated simply. Xander dropped his stuff onto the floor in a loud clatter. Buffy raced up the stairs. 

"Giles? Is that you?" she wondered, seeing Xander she sighed and returned to the basement. 

"Well, I'm glad to see I'm still a disappointment," Xander said collecting his stuff, "You guys were joking about Angelus right?" Willow shook her head. 

"Some girl in LA called," Dawn muttered, "He's back." 

"Shit. That's all we need," Xander joined the two on the couch, "The first evil trying to end all humanity and the most evil vampire ever roaming the streets of LA. Giles know yet?" 

"Fortunately not," Willow shook her head, "I'm hoping I don't have to be around when Buffy tells him." 

"I know what you mean," Xander nodded, "With all that's going on I don't think Giles is ready for the subject of Angelus to be brought up." 

"Old demons are being unburied," Willow stated, "Kind of ironic isn't it?" 

"Are you going to LA and patch things up?" Xander wondered. 

"I don't know," Willow shrugged, "I probably will have to." 

"Have to what?" Giles asked entering the house, followed by Anya and Andrew. 

"Where were you three?" Willow asked dodging the question.

"Giles and I were out researching," Anya responded, "He tagged along." 

"I'm going to let Buffy know your home," Dawn got off the couch and looked at Giles sadly. 

"What's going on?" Giles inquired catching Dawn's look, "What happened?" 

"Buffy should tell you," Willow answered. Giles looked confused at the Willow as Dawn slipped downstairs. The six potentials were all watching Buffy and Spike demonstrate a fight. Dawn watched a few seconds before clearing her through as Buffy pinned Spike on the ground. Buffy looked up at her sister and immediately realized what was happening. 

"He's home," Buffy told Spike, "Watch the girls." Spike nodded as Buffy followed Dawn back upstairs to where Giles waited for an explanation to their weirdness. 

    Back upstairs the gang filed into the dining room. Giles sat down at the head of the table as Buffy paced back and forth. "Well, get on with it," Giles urged.

"We got a call from LA," Buffy began, "Dawn answered it. Apparently Angelus is back." Silence filled the room. The tension couldn't be cut with a knife. An anguished look entered Giles' eyes, a look none of them had seen since Buffy had died the second time around except this time it was mixed with pain and torture. Angelus had inflicted much pain on Giles. Killing Jenny and then torturing him. None of them could imagine how hard it was to find out that the monster was back on the loose. 

"I dropped the phone and then they hung up," Dawn broke the silence, "We should probably call them back. They need backup." 

"And so do we," Giles said sourly, "We can't all pick up and leave for LA and forget about The First and the potentials." 

"I'll go," Willow offered, "I mean I can be more help there than here." Giles shook his head. 

"I don't know if you're ready for such a big spell," Giles enlightened.

"I have to be," Willow bit her lip and looked away from the gang. They knew she was replaying the last time she had used powerful magicks. "Someone needs to bring Angel back." 

"I'll go with her," Xander offered, "I brought her back from the dark side once." 

"Can I go?" Dawn wondered.

"NO!" Buffy exclaimed. 

"Buffy, I'm no help here," Dawn pleaded, "You never let me do anything."

"Let her come," Xander put his hand on Buffy's shoulder, "I'll keep and eye on her." 

"I would appreciate if you could check up on Faith as well," Giles mentioned. Xander, Willow and Dawn nodded. 

"I'll call them," Buffy headed out of the room towards the phone, "Pack up. You'll leave in an hour." The trio nodded and each headed their separate ways. Giles took of his glasses and rubbed his eyes. Anya, who had remained silent throughout the meeting, now stepped up to him. 

"They'll be alright," she assured him, "And don't worry about Angelus. He's not here." 

"Thank you Anya," Giles nodded, "If you would please head back out and search for more information on potentials and the first." Anya nodded and left. Giles sat silently, alone as the others went about their business. 

_(An Hour Later.) _

"I talked to Fred briefly," Buffy sighed, "Told her I was sending some back-up. They're ready for you." The gang stood at the door saying their goodbyes. Willow stood with Kennedy, the two were hugging and Kennedy was whispering something to Willow. Dawn knew it was reassurance that everything would be okay. Dawn was glad just to be able to get out of Sunnydale and be able to DO something. Sure, her appointed task was to basically talk to Faith, but at least there were no potential slayers and none of Buffy's speeches to them about having a reason to be there. Willow finally joined them at the door. Buffy and Dawn hugged briefly before she turned to leave. 

"Bye Spike!" Dawn called to the Vampire who stood in the shadows. Buffy glanced at Spike and then back on the three heading to LA. 

"Wait," she called when they were half-way through the door, "Take Spike?" 

"WHAT?" Everyone turned to Buffy, astonished. 

"Take him to LA," Buffy repeated. 

"Love 'ave you fallen off your coop?" Spike wondered. 

"No, the First can't harm you in LA," Buffy explained, "You'll be safer than here." 

"I don't know," Willow interjected, "What if Angelus has some sort of control over Spike?" 

"The poof has nothing on me," Spike put in, "Who's going to protect 'em potentials?"

"I will," Buffy raised her hand, "And they can protect themselves. Plus there's Giles, Anya and Andrew." 

"Right then," Spike nodded, "Still bright daylight out though." 

"Never stopped us before," Buffy sighed. Then they went about getting Spike into the car that Willow, Dawn and Xander had ready to go. Xander wasn't all too happy about the idea of Spike tagging along to LA with them, but Dawn knew Buffy had a point. If Spike was in LA there was less of a chance of the First manipulating him more than it already had. 

   Finally after Spike was packed safely into the car out of reach of the sun they were on their way to LA. Dawn slid into the backseat of the car and slipped on her walkman. Willow sat in the passenger's seat meditating and going over the spell she would need to restore Angel's soul. Dawn had a feeling that this weekend was going to be a long one. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

_(Back in LA.) _

    Fred and Lorne sat silently in the hotel. They expected Xander, Dawn and Willow show up in a few hours. They only hoped that they could get in tough with the other men before they staked Angelus, or got killed. If Willow's spell went as planned they would get their Angel back and defeat the Beast. 

    The two looked up as the door to the hotel flung open and Conner and Gunn entered. They looked beaten badly. Fred rushed over to Gunn. She reached to touch a cut on his forehead but Gunn stepped out of her reach. "Ran into a gang of vamps," Gunn informed them roughly, "Wesley split. Don't know where he went, don't care either." Conner had made his way over to the couch and nursed his wounds. 

"I called Sunnydale," Fred mentioned, "They're sending Willow and some others." 

"For what?" Conner asked. 

"Well, Willow was able to restore Angel's soul before," Fred clarified, "She's going to try again." 

"We tried that already remember?" Gunn solicited, "Didn't work." 

"It worked for Willow last time," Fred stated simply. Conner shrugged and Gunn made his way to get a new weapon. "They probably left by now." 

"The slayer coming?" Wesley asked entering the hotel. 

"No," Fred shook her head, "Willow, Xander and Dawn." 

"She's sending her little sister?" Wesley placed his crossbow on the counter, "Surprising." 

"How so?" Conner wondered bitterly. 

"Well she's sixteen," Wesley explained, "When I was in Sunnydale Buffy wouldn't even let her out of the house. Buffy said Willow would do the spell?" 

"Well...yeah," Fred nodded. "Why?" 

"Well, she nearly caused an apocalypse last year," Wesley scratched his head thoughtfully, "Went on a rampage. Xander brought her back. She's been at rehab in England until recently." 

"Great," Conner muttered, "Our rescue from Angelus is a witch who tried to end the world herself." 

"Willow is as good as they come," Wesley said firmly. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

_(In the Car on the way to LA.) _

  Dawn stared out the window at the scenery flying by. For the first time in a long time she felt safe from danger. She was in a place that seemed oblivious to the danger occurring in other parts. Of course she was heading from danger into danger but all the same right now she was safe in a car with a witch, a vampire and Xander. She was certainly surprised that Buffy had allowed her to go to LA. Especially considering that Angelus was roaming the streets. Of course, Dawn realized that Buffy expected that she would be safer there than in Sunnydale. Willow would bring Angel back and all would be peachy again and she wouldn't have to worry for a couple of days about her getting into trouble. She felt something poking at her knees. Looking up she saw Xander looking back at her. She pulled her earphones off her ears. "What's wrong?" she asked. 

"Nothing," Xander told her, "You know what you're going to tell Faith?" 

"That we need her help," Dawn stated. 

"Buffy's not going to like that," Willow put in. 

"I don't care," Dawn shrugged, "It's true." 

"She's safer in jail than out here," Xander pointed out. 

"If the Bringers want her they'll get her," Willow shot back.

"Right," Dawn nodded, "Plus we need some more Slayer strength. I know you guys might not have forgiven Faith yet, but she...she was great to me. She taught me a few things behind Buffy's back. She didn't treat me like a child. I know she went all evil on us, but who hasn't? We've forgiven everyone else." Xander and Willow nodded understandingly. "So, I'm going to ask for her help. If she wants to she'll be coming home with us, if not we'll go home without her." 

"Well, get ready Dawnie," Xander pulled into the women's prison, "We're here." 


	2. Questions and Answers

**A  New Breed of Slayer**

**A/N: **Alright thanks to those who reviewed. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I've got a slight idea of how this is going to end, but that might change as I go along. The title will come into play later in the story. Enjoy and please review!

**Ch 2 Questions and Answers**

      Dawn wrung her hands nervously waiting for Faith to appear on the other side of the plexy glass that separated the prisoners from their visitors. It had taken a lot of convincing to get the guards to let her talk to Faith. After all it was after visiting hours and apparently a lot of strange things had been happening in this area lately, Dawn was hardly surprised. When Faith appeared clad in her in orange jumpsuit Dawn was taken aback by the surprised look on the Slayer's face. Never in the short time that Dawn had known Faith did she ever see her not prepared for a situation. Faith took a seat on in front of her and picked up the phone on her side, Dawn did the same. "Never though I'd see you here," Faith said lightly. 

"Never thought I'd be here either," Dawn expressed, "But here I am." 

"How've you been?" Faith wondered. 

"Depends on the day," both girls smiled slightly. 

"An' B?" Faith inquired. 

"It's been going pretty downhill lately," Dawn confided, "Part of the reason I'm here."

"Is that so?" Faith raised an eyebrow. 

"Yeah," Dawn nodded, "To check up on you. Make sure you're still alive." 

"Huh," the slayer grunted, "Well depends in which way you mean. Yeah, I'm alive but I'm not living." 

"Figured as much," Dawn shrugged, "Seeing as we've been gathering up the potential slayers and none of them have been called." 

"Why's that?" Faith looked curiously at Dawn through the glass. 

"Apocalypse and all," Dawn said nonchalantly. Faith also seemed undisturbed by the news. 

"So, they sent you all the way down here just to see me?" Faith knew. Dawn could tell Faith knew there was another reason behind her visit, two actually.

"No," Dawn fidgeted in her seat, "There are actually two reasons I'm here. The First evil is back or here for that matter. It's trying to abolish the line of slayers starting with the potentials, and then the slayers. Without the slayer to get in the way they can end the world as we know it. We need you Faith. Buffy might not want to admit it, but we do." 

"Okay," Faith nodded slowly, "The other reason?" 

"Buffy sent Xander, Willow, Spike and I here as re-enforcements," Dawn announced, "Angelus is back." 

"Shit," Faith muttered. Dawn noticed how she seemed to care more about this than The First. 

"Yeah, Willow is going to try and restore his soul," Dawn explained. Faith nodded knowingly. "We need you Faith, really." 

"B really got herself in tight huh?" Faith wondered, "Damn." 

"Look, I know you don't really like us," Dawn said sternly holding back emotion, "But this is the actual end of the world we're talking about. The First we can't touch it, and it can't touch us but it's got these ancient vamps called the Tuork-Ahn or the Uber Vamp as we call it. You and Buffy are the only ones truly strong enough to take them on." 

"Dawn," Faith's voice softened from its usual roughness, "I'll come." Dawn brightened up at news.

"Alright," Dawn nodded, "Now or on the way back." 

"Now," Faith decided, "I want to be there for the whole Angel bit." 

"We'll meet you out back in a half hour," Dawn ordered. Faith nodded in agreement and Dawn stood up ready to hang up the phone.

"Dawn," Faith said into the phone causing Dawn to hold it against her ear once more, "I might not really like the rest of B's gang much, but I do like you. Always have." Dawn smiled sadly at the slayer and placed the phone back on its hook before heading out to tell Xander the news. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

_(Back outside the Prison.) _

   Xander and Willow leaned against the car watching the door and waiting for Dawn to return from speaking to Faith. Spike was sitting in the back seat sipping on a package of blood that they had packed. The sun had gone down not long ago and Xander, rather unwillingly, let Spike out of the trunk. Frankly they were worried about Dawn. Faith wasn't the best person to be asking for help and in order to get her help she had to break out of jail. They had enough trouble with The First and Angelus. They didn't need the police thrown into the mix. By now Spike had exited the car and paced in front of the other two. 

   Dawn exited the prison and walked slowly towards them. Spike stopped pacing and Willow and Xander stood up straight waiting for Dawn's news. The three searched her face for any signs of what might be coming but her expression remained emotionless. The sixteen year old looked at her three companions before climbing into the back seat of the car. Confused Willow, Xander and Spike also got back into the car. Xander started the vehicle and turned to look at Dawn in the back seat. Willow mimicked his action. "So?" Willow inquired. 

"We have a half hour," Dawn stated shortly, "Xander find me a mall and then find a way to the back of the prison." Still confused Xander obeyed Dawn's orders and backtracked to a tiny mall he had seen a while before arriving at the prison. 

    Once he dropped Dawn and Willow off he and Spike headed back to the prison. It was only a five minute drive. It was decided that the girls had to work quickly to find clothes for Faith and be ready in at the most fifteen minutes. Xander didn't quite anticipate the reunion with the other slayer as he was sure Willow wasn't either. Spike on the other hand had never actually met Faith before, or at least not Faith as herself. So, he was actually quite curious about what this one was like. Xander hoped to god he wasn't having ideas about her like had had about Buffy. It wasn't that he liked cared about it, but he knew it would crush Buffy and he was slightly disturbed about Vampires having any kind of sexual relation with living people. 

     It was quite easy to find the back route to the prison and Spike and Xander were back at the mall in less than nine minutes. They found Willow and Dawn already standing outside waiting, each had two shopping bags in their hands. They placed all the bags in the back seat and shut their doors. Xander and Spike looked sceptically at the two of them. "What?" Dawn asked looking between the two men. 

"How in the world did you do all that and be out before us?" Xander quizzed. 

"We're girls," Willow pointed out, "And we're shopping for Faith so it was easy." Xander shut up about the shopping subject and drove on towards the prison.

    They arrived at they arrived at the prison and Xander parked far enough in the empty desert that the car would be invisible from anyone looking out from any window of the prison. They all knew that Faith would be able to find them after all they had a vampire with them and her slayer senses would kick in with that. Unlike the others Dawn preferred not to wait in the car. She sat outside on the truck of the car and stared towards the direction of the prison. Not long later Spike joined her. He didn't sit like she did instead he stood leaning against the car. Dawn knew he could see what was happening by the prison. He would know when Faith was out of there and coming towards them. That was an advantage to vamps and a disadvantage to their prey. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

_(Inside the Prison, In Faith's cell.) _

   Faith sat on her bunk waiting for the right time to break lose from this hell hole that had been her home for quite some time. She was finally going to get out and do something rather than sit in her prison cell all day and night letting Buffy save the world over and over again. Lucky for her, the woman she shared he cell with had gotten out of parole earlier that afternoon and they still hadn't stuck her with anyone new. As she got up from her bunk and headed towards the window her slayer senses went wild. She looked around the cell. There was no one in or outside of it. She shrugged it off and slowly and as quietly ripped off the window of her cell. Making sure no guard was around she slid through and placed the bars so it looked nothing had been tampered with. As soon as she was out of the cell her she felt more at ease and she slunk off in the direction of the fence where she knew somewhere Dawn and the others were waiting for her. 

     Just as she her feet touched the ground after skilfully scaling the prison fence not only did Faith feel freedom she also felt the ground beneath her rumble followed by a huge explosion. Faith turned to see half of the prison already in flames. Another rumble and explosion followed and this time the whole prison blew up. Faith's instincts kicked in quickly as she flung herself on the floor. Debris from the explosion flew over her head. Her heart pounded hard against her chest as she sighed in relief. She would've been in there when the explosion occurred if Dawn hadn't visited and convinced her to help them. Once again she had dodged death. 

      As Faith stood up she came face-to-face with the white-blonde haired vamp. Her slayer senses tingled but she didn't attack. She remember him from when she took over Buffy's body that time and also remembered Dawn saying something about him being along with them. Still confused as to why they were traveling around with a vamp Faith let it go. The vamp, Spike she recalled, turned and walked off into the darkness. Groaning Faith followed him. They reached a car where she found Dawn pacing back and forth outside, the flames from the explosion glinted across her face showing her worry, Xander and Willow were at the car each on opposite sides their doors open looking out towards her and Spike. As Dawn saw Faith she ran towards her and flung her arms around the slayer. It took Faith a second or so to react as she awkwardly put her arms around Dawn as well returning the hug. "Well, that was close," Faith sighed. 

"Seems like the First is more resourceful than we thought," Xander had joined them. 

"Guess we don't have to worry about the police," Willow mentioned, "I mean they'll think you're dead and all." Faith nodded slowly at the red-head. She examined Willow and Xander carefully. They hadn't seemed to change all that much since she had last seen them. 

"Oh, that reminds me," Dawn pulled out of the hug, "We got you a change of clothes." 

"Thank god," Faith heaved. Dawn lead Faith back to the car and pointed to the bags before returning to where the others stood. Faith took that as a hint to change and climbed into the back of the vehicle. Changing quickly into the clothes they had purchased Faith grinned. Sleek leather pants and a halter top. Perfect. There were also another change of clothes for when things got messy in LA.  

   Faith opened the back door to indicate she was ready and the others re-entered the car. Faith sat in between the vamp and Dawn. She breathed in the scent of the car and people who had not been in a prison cell rotting away. This was freedom and Faith knew that it was bound to last. After all everyone would think she was dead. The motor of the car rumbled on and Faith glanced over at Spike who had remained awfully silent since they entered the car. "So, why you here and not off creating mass murders?" 

"Bloody soul is why," Spike informed her, "'for that it was a chip in me head." 

"Chip?" Faith raised an eyebrow questioningly. 

"The Initiative put a chip in his head," Dawn explained for Spike, "So he wouldn't kill anyone. Buffy found him when she found out her boyfriend Riley was a part of them. Recently she got it taken out because it was malfunctioning." 

"B really knows how to pick 'em," Faith shook her head, "So, how'd Angel lose his soul now? I've been wondering why he hasn't been to visit." 

"Angel visits you?" Willow asked quietly from up front. 

"Normally," Faith replied, "He's my "lawyer". He's been my only link to the outside world and its dangers." 

"We don't know how he lost it," Xander put in, "Just got a call this morning telling us about it. Buffy decided to send us to patch things up." 

"Too busy with 'em potentials," Spike added, "'Bit you should call her." 

~*~*~*~*~*~

_(At the Summers' home in Sunnydale.) _

      Buffy stared at the group of potentials in front of her. They had gone from six to sixteen in less than two hours. Ten new potentials had appeared at their front door in different intervals. Three had flow down from different areas in Canada, four had been traveling for days from across seas to reach them, and another three had arrived from somewhere in the USA and according to Giles that this was most likely all that remained of the Slayer line, maybe a few more. The girls were now sprawled out across the living room either tired from training or from traveling. The TV was flickering in front of their eyes as they watched some action TV show or movie. Kennedy was the only one not paying attention to the TV or the new potentials instead she was staring out the window watching as if Willow was about to appear there. Buffy felt for the girl but there was no time to waste. She marched through the living room towards the TV ready to turn it off and give another one of her speeches when whatever had been playing flashed off on its own the girls groaned as a new caster appeared on TV and the words _Breaking News flashed on the screen. Behind the reporter you could see flames taking over the night and Buffy paused to listen to what happened, __"Just twenty minutes ago a shocking event took place here at the women's prison," the reporter announced, __"A loud explosion erupted into the night and the women's prison exploded leaving nothing but rubble and fire. All prisoners and guards who were inside the building are said to be perished. There is going to be a big investigation as to what exactly caused this horrific event." _

Buffy stared in horror at the screen she had dropped to her knees not long after the news had been reported. The reporter went on to talk more about what was happening but Buffy tuned out. That was Faith's prison, Faith her been in there. Faith was dead. Although Buffy didn't care much for Faith she knew that it meant a new slayer had been called. One of the girls in this room was about to have their life changed. Buffy almost wished Faith hadn't died. None of these girls were ready to take on the responsibility of being the slayer. "Buffy?" Kennedy was now sitting next to her, "What's wrong?"

"Faith," Buffy managed. 

"Faith?" the other potentials all wondered confusedly. Before Buffy could respond Anya wandered in and handed Buffy the phone. The slayer stared down at it realizing she never heard it ring.  

"It's Dawn," Anya put in urgently, "Talk already!" Buffy shook her head at Anya and placed the phone to her ear. 

"Dawn?" she said in to the phone, "What's wrong?"

_"Well the prison blew up for one," Dawn offered, "And we've got a vampire and an escaped convict in the car with us. OH, and I left out the part where we're supposed to re-soul one of the worst vampires in the world. Yeah, that's pretty much all that's wrong." _

"Escaped convict?" Buffy questioned feeling her hopes rise. 

_"Yeah, Faith," Dawn said obviously, "When I visited we agreed she was coming with us." _

"Oh, thank god," Buffy sighed, "You almost at Angel Investigations?" 

_"Not far," Dawn revealed, "I'll talk to you later. Just wanted to let you know everything's fine. Bye!" _

"Bye," Buffy hung up the phone placed it on the ground next to her. Faith was alive, there was no new slayer and Faith was going to be coming home with Dawn and the others. Buffy was actually quite glad that Dawn had gone behind her back and gotten Faith to break out of jail. They needed more slayer strength and it was better from someone who was trained and ready to battle. 

"Who's Faith?" one of the newest potentials asked Buffy.

"Faith is the slayer, the other slayer," Buffy explained.

"I though you told us there was only one?" another put in. 

"There's only supposed to be one," Giles entered the room, "Buffy died momentarily a while back and Kendra was called while she was gone. After Kendra died Faith was called." 

"Oh, then why was she in prison?" Rona piped in, "I mean she's the slayer. She's supposed to be fighting for a greater good." 

"Faith killed a man," Buffy sighed, "She was good for a time and then, just went bad." 

"Can we trust her?" Kennedy asked. Buffy shrugged. 

"I hope," she murmured, "I hope." 

"So, you've died?" Chloe took a chance to get in a question. 

"Twice," Buffy nodded, "When I died the second time a new slayer wasn't called because technically I wasn't the active slayer. If Faith were to have died in that prison explosion tonight its most likely that one of you would've been called." Buffy noticed all the girls seemed relieved that Faith was alive. 

"Wait," Giles turned to Buffy, "There was an explosion at the prison?" 

"Yeah," Buffy nodded, "It's on the news now, Faith's prison exploded. Luckily when Dawn had visited Faith agreed to break out. Apparently everything's fine. They're almost at the hotel." 

"Hotel?" the news potentials all looked curiously at Buffy, "How come?" 

"That's another long story," Buffy sighed, "I sent my sister Dawn, Xander, Willow and Spike over to LA. Apparently there's a problem with Angel. See, Angel is a vampire cursed with a soul. If Angel ever experiences true happiness he loses his soul and becomes Angelus again, one of the biggest badest vampires of them all."

"Willow's a witch," Kennedy piped in proudly, "She's going to restore Angelus' soul." 

"Try," Buffy corrected her, "We're not sure if Willow can still do that. Xander's also there for a reason we don't want Wills to turn all evil again and join forces with the First." 

  
"Is it true that Spike is Angelus' grandsire?" Chloe wondered from her corner of the room. Buffy sighed and prepared herself for a never ending round of question and answers from the potentials. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

_(Meanwhile in __Los Angeles__ at the Hyperion home of AI.) _

   Fred stared hopefully at the door urging it to knock. They needed to get this over with soon and she was pretty sure that their reinforcements were supposed to have arrived some time ago. Lorne was out on the streets checking for news on Angelus and the other men were cleaning up and getting ready for pre-occupying Angelus and 'Cordy' while they prepared for the spell Willow was supposed to perform. Fred heard footsteps behind her and turned to find Gunn standing there slipping on his clean shirt. Fred frowned wishing things were okay with them again. She wasn't quite sure whether she had feelings for Wesley or not but she knew she didn't want to lose Gunn. "They here yet?" Gunn inquired.  

"Not yet," Fred drawled tiredly. All this business with the Beast and Angelus had really worn her out. Not to mention all the drama that seemed to follow her around now that Wesley and Gunn were both competing for her heart. 

"They should've been," he grunted looking at the weapons wall deciding which would best suit him now. Wesley and Conner came down next one after the other each also ready for their next meeting with Angelus. Fred could tell that Conner was ready to stake Angelus if he slipped up. All this wasn't right at all. Angel shouldn't have given up his soul to try and get the information out of Angelus. Now, Angel's soul was missing, Cordelia was evil and not actually Cordy, and Angelus was out running lose in LA. Things could be worse though right? Probably not. 

    As the men picked their weapons and waited impatiently around for the Sunnydale recruits to join them Lorne returned with no news at all on Angelus. Apparently his contacts weren't talking and as if the universe was trying to jinx them Gunn flicked on their little TV to find that the women's prison that had been holding the other slayer Faith had burnt down. Alright, things had seemingly gotten worse. 

     A glimpse of hope appeared for the gang of Angel Investigations as a knock on the door sounded through the lobby of the hotel. The five of them all glanced at the door, thinking the same thing. Their last chance at getting Angel back was most likely behind that door right now. The three men then looked to Fred who was standing closest to the door. She jumped a little at their looks and hurried to the door. The door opened revealing five people instead of the three they had been expecting. Wesley, Conner and Gunn immediately went into fighter stance as a white-blonde haired man entered the hotel. "Oh, sod of," he waved them off. 

"It's okay," the red head told them cheerfully, "It's just Spike." 

"I know," Wesley clenched his teeth, "That's reason enough not to trust him." 

"Plus he's a vampire," Conner added sourly. 

"With a bloody soul," Spike informed them taking a seat on an empty chair. The five all looked at the newcomers in awe.

"I though Angel was the only one with a soul," Fred finally said. 

"The poof is supposed to be," Spike frowned, "But got me one last summer." Conner was seemed still unsure about this. Wesley on the other hand was eyeing the tough looking brunette in leather. 

"You're supposed to be dead," he enunciated rather uncomfortable, "The prison blew up." 

"What can I say?" the brunette shrugged, "Got lucky. Dawn stopped by and told me about all troubles going on here and in Sunnydale. Thought I'd break out and help." The others then realized that the girl Wesley had addressed was none other than one of the slayers. 

"I'm Dawn," the other brunette stepped up to Fred and held out her hand, "Seeing as you're the only girl here I'm guessing you're Fred?" 

"Yeah," Fred nodded, "That's me." 

"Cool," Dawn grinned at the girl, "OH! That's your saviour Willow over there and our handy-man Xander. You already know the other two." 

"I'm Gunn," Gunn nodded from where he stood, "Green demon over there is Lorne, and that's Conner." 

"Well, now that we're all introduced let's get this over with huh?" Xander stepped up rubbing his hands together. 

"Uh sure," Willow responded, "I'll need some stuff first before I can do the spell." 

"I'll help," Fred offered and the two girls went off in search of items for the spell. 

"So, what's up with the major chaos out on the streets?" Faith questioned once they were gone, "There was fires, accident, and vamps everywhere. I almost jumped out to start slaying them." 

"A demon called The Beast blocked the sun," Wesley explained, "It's been chaos with vampire and raining fire since. That's why we had to bring Angelus back. We though he had some sort of knowledge of the Beast since the Beast seemed to know him." 

"Wait, you purposely got Angel to lose his soul?" Xander's voice was filled with surprise. 

"Well, Angel couldn't remember anything about the Beast," Wesley offered. 

"Gee, can't these Big Bads come up with original names?" Dawn mumbled, "I mean The Master, The Beast, The First..." 

"Wait, did you say the First?" Wesley stopped Dawn before she continued, "How do you know about the First?" 

"Well, he's kind of in Sunnydale," Dawn shrugged, "You know killing the Potentials we've gathered and trying to destroy the world and the line of slayers." 

"I thought it was only legend," Wesley seemed dazed, "There are no actual written documents about the First." 

"Tell me about it," Xander and Dawn groaned. 

"Hey, can we get back to Angelus and the vamps?" Faith interjected, "I kind of want to get some slaying done."

"Right then," Wesley nodded, "We had Angelus locked up in a cage and were questioning him. When we were going to re-soul him we found the jar that held his soul had been stolen. Later, Cordelia had a vision on how we could re-soul Angelus. We thought we did and then Cordy let him out. It turns out Angel was not back and Cordelia was not the real Cordy." 

"Wait, Cordy?" Xander jumped in, "As in Cordelia Chase?" 

"Yeah," Conner nodded defensively, "What's it to you?" 

"Well, Cordy never really liked the slaying biz," Xander shrugged, "I mean she helped out but she never liked Buffy. That's kind of why she moved to LA." 

"Well Cordelia has grown quite attached to this group," Wesley informed them, "She became part demon so she could continue to have visions and help Angel out. A while back she went missing. When she came back from where the Powers That Be sent her she had no memory of us. We returned her memory shortly after. Apparently the Cordelia we know wasn't the one who returned." 

"Did she touch anything?" Dawn wondered. 

"What's that got to do with anything?" Gunn wondered. 

"Well, the First impersonates people who are dead," Dawn explained, "It manipulates you in that way. It tortured Spike, Andrew, and our Potentials. If Cordelia didn't touch anything there's a good chance the First was trying to get Angelus back to help him out." 

"Cordy touched things," Gunn reassured them glancing at Conner, "After all she was the one who let Angelus out." 

"Just a theory," Dawn motioned. Her gaze now fell upon Conner. He looked young, around her age but seemed a lot tougher and haunted by something. "How old are you?" she wondered. 

"Eighteen," Conner grunted. 

"Actually he's more like a year or so," Lorne corrected, "He was kidnapped and raised in a hell dimension." 

"Kidnapped?" Dawn raised an eyebrow, "Why?" 

"The man who raised me didn't really like my father much," Conner explained darkly, "He told me how he would try to kill me because he was a vampire and how he would try to kill him." 

"Who's your father?" Spike requested. 

"Angel." Xander, Faith, Spike and Dawn all stared at the boy. 

"But how?" the all sputtered. 

"My mother, Darla, got pregnant somehow," Conner seemed bitter about having to explain, "Found a loophole. In order to give birth to me she had to slay herself." 

"Darla huh?" Spike scoffed, "That girl'd do anything for Angelus." 

"Alright, now that everyone knows everything about everyone," Faith sighed impatiently, "Can we _please _go and do some serious slaying. Do I have to remind you that I haven't slayed a vamp in a really, really long time?" 

"Sure you remember how?" Xander joked. Faith glared at him and Xander shut up. 

"Fine," Wesley nodded, "Let's go then." 

"Wait, your going Jeeves?" Faith seemed to stifle a laugh, "Wow, you sure have changed from that shy watcher I once tortured. Sorry about that by the way." Wesley stiffened as he brushed past Faith out the door. Faith seemed to regret sticking her foot in her mouth like that. It seemed that her torturing him was still a sour subject for Wesley. Then again Faith should probably get used to people not forgiving her yet. After all she was headed back to good old Sunnydale where she had done a lot of bad things to a lot of people. Conner and Gunn were not far behind Wesley. Faith slowly turned to Dawn who showed no signs of following, "Come on kid," Faith nudged her, "B's not around. Show me what you've got." Dawn smiled at her and followed Faith out the door leaving Xander to find Willow and Fred. After all it was his job to watch the witch. As Faith and Dawn left the hotel together Faith couldn't help but perk up a little. At least there was going to be one person in Sunnydale who didn't hate her. 


	3. Vampire Hunt

**A New Breed of Slayer**

**A/N: **Thank you to everyone who read the last chapter and reviewed. I'm glad you enjoyed it.  Anyway, enjoy and please review. 

**Ch 3 Vampire Hunt**

    For the first time since the potentials had arrived, maybe even before that, Dawn felt wanted. Unlike back home in Sunnydale with Buffy, Faith had actually invited her to join the hunt. Usually she would be forced to stay home and do something 'useful'. Of course Faith's treatment of Dawn had always been different from that of Buffy's. Although Dawn had been thirteen when Faith ruled the streets of Sunnydale the slayer still insisted on showing the young girl how to protect herself at night in Sunnydale. Secretly each night Faith would sneak into the Summers' home and then Dawn would leave with the slayer. Even after Faith began to torture and hurt Buffy and her friends Faith always made sure Dawn was safe and out of the way. Soon enough, before Faith was put into a coma, Dawn had mastered the slaying of vampires. Of course she never allowed Buffy to know about her skills. Dawn had always felt that by letting Buffy in on her secret with Faith she would be betraying the one person who always treated her as and equal and not as a child. Now, Dawn prepared to show Faith that all her training had not gone to waste. Buffy and the others may hate Faith and refuse to allow her to redeem herself, but Dawn on the other hand would not leave Faith's side. The slayer, although she liked to put on a tough façade, still needed support and Dawn was willing and eager to give her that. Faith had been more of a sister to Dawn than Buffy ever could, or would be. Although Faith had been absent for the past four years of Dawn's life it seemed that Buffy had been gone a lot longer than that. Even in saving Dawn's life Buffy managed to make Dawn resent her. "Dawnie," Faith's worried voice broke into her thoughts, "You okay?" 

"Huh?" Dawn looked up and then managed to smile, "Five by five." The slayer smiled widely at the teenager. 

"Good," Faith's smile faded and her voice became stern, "Stay focused. If you're going to slay you need your undivided attention. Got it?" Dawn nodded in understanding and noticed Faith send a small wink her way. 

"Do you have a plan?" Wesley wondered as he stopped and waited for the two to catch up. Dawn and Faith looked at the ex-watcher. They had both almost forgotten about the other four present.

"What Wes? Doubt my ability to do this job?" Faith wondered. 

"Of course not Faith," Wesley said dryly, "But we are dealing with Angelus. A plan would help." 

"Alright," Faith nodded, "Here's the plan: We find Angelus, I capture him and we return to the hotel so Willow can restore his soul. Everyone got it?" 

"Sure thing," Gunn nodded in agreement. Spike and Wesley silently agreed. Faith then turned and continued to walk down the street. 

"No," Conner suddenly put in. Faith whirled around. 

"Kid's got a problem huh?" Faith inquired. She looked over the teenage boy, examining him carefully. He did have Angel's whole dark and broody thing down. All she was curious about was why he seemed to have a problem with the plan. 

"Yes, I do," Conner replied, "If I find Angelus, he's dead." With these words Faith grew extremely angry. She shoved Conner against a nearby wall and lifted her chosen weapon, a crossbow, to his forehead.

"Listen and listen good," Faith hissed, "I'm in charge here so you do what I say. You will not go anywhere near Angelus or stake him for that matter. If Angelus needs to be staked I'll be the one doing it. Got it? If you have a problem then go back to the hotel and help them out there. You're not going to be getting in the way here. I must remind you that I'm a murderer and if it comes between choosing you or Angel I will not hesitate to kill you. Understand?" Conner smirked and nodded. "Good." 

"I like this girl," Gunn whispered to Wesley who just watched Faith, emotionlessly. Dawn smiled as Conner dutifully followed Faith this time. Glancing over at Spike she saw the vampire grunt in laughter as he too followed the slayer. That was another thing about Faith. She always got her way. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

_(Meanwhile at the Hyperion)_

   After Faith and the rest had left Xander proceeded to go in search of Willow and Fred. He couldn't help but admire Faith for allowing Dawn to go out on the hunt with them. Although Buffy would certainly disapprove of Dawn out on the same streets that Angelus was roaming Xander thought it was for the best. After all with all this business with the First he could tell that Dawn was beginning to feel neglected. He couldn't help but relate to that feeling. No longer wanting to think of Buffy and the trouble in Sunnydale Xander examined the hotel. It was rather large. Each window had the curtain carefully position so that if Angel were to walk into that room at any point during the day he wouldn't burst into flames. Heading up the stairs in the direction Fred and Willow had gone Xander continued to ponder on his situation. His thoughts drifted away from the décor of the hotel and over to Cordelia Chase, his ex-girlfriend and the ex-cheerleader. He would have been able to easily believe she was in LA, but in LA working for Angel was kind of hard to imagine. Throw in Cordy having visions and becoming part-demon and it was hard to believe that they were still talking about the same Cordelia Chase. The Cordelia he had known back in Sunnydale, and loved, had hated Angel, Buffy and anything to do with slaying but she had still done it. Voices from down the hall caught Xander's attention. He couldn't make out what was being said but he knew it was Willow and Fred talking lowly. He followed the noises as they became more distinct, he opened the door to a room and found the two girls searching through a big trunk in the closet. "Everything alright here?" Xander quizzed as both girls jumped. 

"OH," Willow sighed in relief realizing it was only Xander, "Yeah, we're alright. I thought you would've gone out with Faith and the others." 

"Nah, slaying vamps is getting old," Xander shrugged.

"And where's Dawnie?" Willow wondered peering around Xander. 

"She's out hunting Angelus with them," Xander informed. Willow nodded slowly and the two shared the mutual understanding that if Buffy found out they would both be very, very dead. Fred watched the two closely before turning back to the trunk. Willow stood up and dusted off her knees. 

"I'm going to call Buffy," she stated, "Tell her we're all here and working the mojo to get Angel back and get home." 

"Tell Kennedy I say hi," Xander smirked as Willow blushed and hurried out of the room. He was happy that Willow finally seemed to be moving on. Especially considering how hard she had taken Tara's death. They all missed sorceress. She had brought something into all of their lives that could never be replaced and he knew it hurt Willow most that she couldn't prevent it. That she couldn't bring Tara back. He and Willow both knew that she was better off wherever she was now. After all last time they had brought someone back from the beyond they hadn't exactly been happy about it.  

"Did she really almost end the world?" Fred asked timidly. Xander turned to the girl and nodded. 

"She lost someone she loved and couldn't take it," Xander explained, "She killed the person who killed Tara and then went after his companions. Giles came back and when she absorbed his power...she felt the pain of the world and wanted to destroy it." 

"Oh," Fred sighed, "Did Buffy stop her?" 

"No," Xander shook her head, "I did, with my love for her." Fred smiled slightly. Sometimes Xander was still in awe with the fact that it had be he, with no magic or slayer strength, which had brought the real Willow back from the dark side with words of love. To him, that was the real magic. 

   Willow returned to the room minutes later. Apparently Buffy had been out at the time some last minute thing she had to deal with. Andrew had been the one to answer the phone swearing to inform Buffy of the call. Xander wondered if he was still afraid of Willow. The nerd rarely commented on how Willow once had tried to kill him sending him and Jonathan fleeing to Mexico. Then, the three of them heard a loud crash sounded from somewhere down the hall. Fred and Willow stood and headed to investigate but Xander stopped them. "I'll do it," he said before heading out the room, "Stay here and get ready for the spell." Willow nodded dutifully and led Fred back over to where their ingredients were scattered around on the floor. 

    Creeping down the hall Xander prayed that it wasn't Angelus or the Beast stopping in to feed on him or the other two. Pushing open a slightly ajar door a little away from the room he had just exited Xander peeped in. To his surprise there was someone in the room, and it was not either Angelus or the Beast, it was a girl with short brown hair huddled into the corner of the room naked. She hugged her bare legs tightly and her head was bent her forehead resting against her knees. "Are you alright?" Xander questioned. Startled the brunette's head swung up to see the intruder before trying to huddle deeper into the corner, Xander gasped as he recognized the face of the girl. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

_(Back on the Streets of LA) _

  Faith and Dawn stood in fighter's stance back to back each holding their weapons, stakes, readily. Not long after Faith had threatened to kill Conner they were attacked by a large group of vampires. Not long into the fight Faith had tossed the crossbow aside and pulled out a trusty stake, but not before tossing one over to Dawn. They had all split into groups of two, Faith and Dawn, Spike and Conner, and Wesley and Gunn. Now, Faith and Dawn stood staring at their group of opponents. The first of the vamps launched towards Dawn who immediately ducked and kicked sending the Vamp tumbling back a few feet. While the Vamp tried to regain his stepping Dawn, remaining low, twirled and sent the Vamp hurtling onto his back. Not wasting a second Dawn jumped to her feet and staked it, she brought her arm back quickly as the dust appeared and staking the Vamp coming from behind. She might not be a slayer, but she was trained well. 

   Proudly watching Dawn stake the two Vamps just as easily as any slayer would Faith took on her own attackers. The vamps weren't bright which led Faith to conclude that they were newbies. Vamps that had been sired since the sun had been blocked. They didn't know what slayers were and that was why they weren't running away. They were set on a meal. Faith knew one thing, neither she nor Dawn were going to be their meal ticket. Swiftly staking the three remaining Vamps surrounding her Faith turned to help Dawn out with the last one before joining Wesley and Gunn. Faith realized immediately that the old watcher who Faith remembered as the bookish Englishman that she had tortured didn't need her help, neither did Gunn, or Conner nor certainly not Spike. So, Faith nudged Dawn and nodded off down towards an old, abandoned looking factory. "Where do think I would hide out if I was Angelus?" Faith whispered. 

"Or any Vampire for that matter," Dawn added, "Let's go get ourselves a vampire." Faith grinned and the two took off sprinting towards the factory. Halfway there though they were ambushed by three more vamps. Faith could tell right off that these guys knew what they were doing and groaned looking longingly at the factory which may be housing either the Beast or Angelus. "Go!" Dawn shouted as she launched to the Vamps, "I'll take care of them." Faith hesitated a second but saw that in the horizon there were only five figures left where the others were fighting and as she took another step towards the factory the remaining Vamp was staked and the four they had left behind were heading their way. Faith knew that if anything happened to Dawn Buffy would not hesitate to kill Faith, but she had to do what she had to do. She then began to run off towards the factory once more, but her conscious got the best of her and she returned to help Dawn dust the Vamps. As they staked the last one Wesley, Spike, Conner, and Gunn rejoined them just as another pack of Vampires jumped out. 

"My god!" Faith exclaimed exasperated, "When did Vamps become so fucking organized." 

"Since the slayer came to town," one of the Vamps growled. 

"Really?" Faith tilted her head questioningly before jumping the Vamp, pining him and staking him, "Anyone else?" The Vamps took a step back. "Aw...too bad," Faith faked disappointment. Then nodding at Dawn and the others they attacked the Vamps. Some of the Vamps put up a pretty good fight, as the three Dawn and Faith had taken before but most of them were just newbies that were still hungry. They were taken out easily. 

"So, think we'll finally get there without interruption?" Dawn wondered hopefully. 

"Now what's the fun in that?" Faith smirked walking on down the street, "Can't wait to see who Angelus' minions are." 

"Can't 'ave that many can 'e?" Spike put in, "Poof had Dru and me last time. An' we were the smart ones." 

"Dru was a smart one?" Dawn laughed. She had only one encounter with the infamous Drusilla but had heard many stories and knew that Dru was as crazy as they come. 

"Smarter 'n most," Spike encountered. The others nodded disbelieving. 

"Either way Angelus' minions are not a problem," Wesley interjected, "We have to worry about Angelus and the Beast." 

"And Evil Cordy," Gunn added. 

"Yes," Wesley continued, "Just remember we need to capture Angelus." Wesley looked pointedly at Conner. 

"What, talking about me?" a voice boomed from the shadows, "I'm flattered, really." 

"Angelus," Faith whispered. 

"Not the slayer I wanted," Angelus stepped into the street light, "Then again any slayer would do. How are you Faithie?" 

"Dying to see you," Faith responded dryly. 

"Dying is right," Angelus smirked, his voice fill of amusement and Dawn shuddered, "And look you brought the Slayer's sister too." 

"Watch it Angelus," Spike warned, "Don't want to give the slayer another reason to kill you." 

"Spike," Angelus growled, "I'm ashamed. Getting a soul and sleeping with the slayer. I smell her all over you. She's mine you know, Angel marked her." Dawn remembered that. Buffy came home one night two puncture wounds in her neck that she immediately hid under turtle necks and scarves. It was only much later that she found out what it meant when a Vampire bit you and left you alive. You were his territory and other Vamps had better stay away. Dracula had marked Buffy as well. Riley had been upset about that alright. 

"Come on Angelus," Faith coaxed, "I know you want a piece of me, the slayer, think of all the power." 

"I do Faithie," Angelus admitted, "I just want to introduce you to a friend of mind first." With that said the big ugly Beast stepped into the light next to Angelus. Faith was immediately in fighter stance. "And just so your friends don't interfere," he continued, "I've brought them a distraction too." Confused, the gang looked around them as ten Vampires stepped out of the shadows and attacked as Faith and the Beast went at it. Angelus leaned against the wall of the building behind him, arm crossed watching amused. 

    Dawn staked her attacker, a female vampire, after a little struggle. Not leaving a chance for another to attack she headed to Angelus. Faith immediately caught on to what was happening. "Dawn!" she called out as the Beast slammed his rocked hand across her cheek sending her flying, "Here!" Dawn caught the tranquilizer gun Faith tossed to her and tucked it away carefully in her pocket. Angelus smirked as Dawn continued towards him.

"So, kid thinks she can take me?" he chuckled, "You've got too much of your sister in you. Of course you were made from her." 

"Unlike Buffy I'm not into the small talk," Dawn spat, "I'd rather just fight." 

"So, it wasn't Buffy who trained you after all," Angelus lifted his body off the wall and approached Dawn, "Didn't think so. She's too protective, or maybe insecure." 

"I said no small talk," Dawn growled remembering not to show her vulnerability. She lurched forward with a kick with Angelus blocked with no problem before grabbing her wrist and pulling her towards him. Dawn looked up into Angelus' eyes and saw pure evil. She knew what he saw too, fear. It was hard not to be afraid. Angelus smirked, as if reading her thoughts and stroked her cheek before brushing her hair away from her neck.

"You'll make a delightful snack," Angelus cackled. 

"Leave the nibblet alone," Spike ordered, "She's mine." 

"Nice try William," Angelus nuzzled Dawn's neck longingly, "But she hasn't been marked, ever. Not even a bite." Dawn took Spike's interrupting to her advantage and tried to worm out of Angelus' hold, hut it was too strong. "Unh, Unh, Unh," the vampire scolded, "No running away." 

"Let...go....of...me!" Dawn demanded stepping hard on his toes. 

"Wow, a real teenager you are," Angelus shook her head un-impressed, "How about you an' me go get some privacy huh?" Dawn shook her head profusely. The last thing she needed was to be alone somewhere with Angelus. She shouldn't have thought she could take him. This was all Buffy's fault. If Buffy wasn't constantly driving Dawn to prove herself worthy of her attention then Dawn would never have thought of trying to fight Angelus. Then, she remembered the tranquilizer gun. If somehow she could get a hold of it, but it was useless, Angelus now had flipped Dawn over his shoulders and turned to the Beast and Faith. "Finish her off and bring her to me alive," he ordered, "Oh, and Faith maybe this will even out the fight a bit." He tossed Faith a sword carefully carved out of the Beast himself before taking off with Dawn. 

   Faith cursed to herself as the Beast flung her once more against a wall. She was scraped badly and weak. Conner, Wesley, Spike and Gunn seemed to be struggling with their fight as well and if it wasn't bad enough Angelus had just gotten a hold of Dawn. Yes, this was real great. After all what more could a girl want than for the sister of the girl who hated more than anything to be kidnapped by probably the worst Vampire of all time? Spike seemed equally upset about this. As if he was in charge of Dawn. It had been Faith who had invited Dawn to join the hunt, Faith who had taught Dawn to fight and Faith who encouraged Dawn to go after Angelus by handing her the tranquilizer gun. Now, Dawn was as good as dead if Faith didn't get to her soon. In a burst of energy and anger Faith launched at the Beast once more, the sword first stabbing him right in his lower bicep. Spike immediately staked his Vamp and ducked into a building behind him. As soon as the Beast crumbled to dust the Sun burst out from behind its dark cover and the Vamp attackers burst into flame. With a sigh of relief Faith collapsed onto her knees. Gunn, Wesley and Conner smiled staring up into the light sky but Faith wasn't all too happy about the sun. Dawn was still with Angelus and that was a bad thing, a very bad thing. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

_(Over in Sunnydale; the grocery store.) _

    With all the new arrivals there was a major shortage in food which was why Buffy along with Kennedy and Chloe were grocery shopping. Throwing in another three boxes of cereal into the already filled carriage Buffy felt an odd chill run through her spine. Something was wrong. Pulling out her cell phone while checking on the two potentials in the next aisle Buffy quickly dialled the Summers' home, Andrew almost immediately picked up. _"Hello?" Anya answered the phone immediately after the first ring. _

"Is everyone alright?" Buffy quizzed. 

_"Oh, Buffy it's you," she said unenthusiastically, "Yeah, why?" _

"All the potentials are alive?" Buffy ignored the boy's question. 

_"Yes, they're training out back," Anya informed the slayer, "And not very well either." _

Buffy was semi-relieved, "And have you heard anything from Willow and the others?" At Willow's name Kennedy perked up and began to listen. 

_"Willow called," Anya assured Buffy, "Told Andrew they were all there and getting ready to get Angel back." _

"And everything was fine?" Buffy had to make sure that they were safe. If anything had happened to any of them... 

_"I don't know," Anya responded nonchalant, "He didn't ask."._ Buffy shook her head and hung up the phone without saying goodbye. Resisting the temptation to call LA she shrugged off the feeling she had had as paranoia. Turning into the next aisle leaving Chloe and Kennedy to fight over some kind of chocolate or snacks Buffy froze. Someone who was very, very dead stood right in front of Buffy's carriage smiling at the slayer, Jenny Calendar. 

"Well, hello Buffy," the woman greeted, "How's Rupert?" 

"You can't get to me," Buffy informed the First, "Jenny's dead and you're the first." 

"Remember how I died?" The first questioned, "Remember what Angelus did to me. Did you really send your friends out to take care of that Monster? What kind of slayer are you? What kind of sister?" 

"They can handle Angelus, they have Faith," Buffy snapped at the First. 

"Can they?" The First smiled snidely, "Willow might've restored his soul once, but it's too powerful a spell for her and what about you're precious Spike? Will he resist the temptation of working with his Grand-Sire again?" 

"Faith will keep them in line," Buffy clenched her jaw together now allowing the First to see she was unsure about that fact. 

"Your rogue slayer?" The First in Jenny's form laughed as she walked around Buffy turning into Angel, "She once tried to bring Angelus back remember? Will she be able to resist the evil he offers her? And your sister, what kind of danger are you putting Dawn in? They're going to die and so are all of you." 

"Go away!" Buffy demanded, "You can't mess with my mind!" 

"Buffy?" Chloe turned into the aisle pushing her own carriage, the First winked and disappeared, "You alright?" Buffy turned and looked at the potential who posed a good question. Was she alright? She had just sent four people she cared about into a potentially deadly situation. Everything the First had pointed out was true, everything. What had she been thinking sending Dawn out there? Allowing them to visit Faith and break her out of jail. And she had even sent Spike along with them. That had been a very, very bad idea. They were all going to die and it would be all her fault. These potentials were going to die, most of them in the final battle and she would be to blame. What was she doing? What was the point of all this? 

"Buffy?" It was Kennedy now speaking. Buffy snapped out of her trance and nodded. 

"Yeah, I'm fine," she lied, "Just had a visit from the First is all." Chloe and Kennedy's eyes widened and Buffy realized that these girls needed her to be strong. Needed her to fill them with words of hope but how could she do that when she didn't believe there was hope. There was no hope. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_(At the Hyperion; The room with Xander and the strange girl.) _

  All Xander knew was that it couldn't be, that the naked woman huddled in the corner was not who she appeared to be. Yet, she was, there was no other explanation. The girl was looking at him, fear in her eyes as if her were going to hurt her and yet Xander continued to stare in awe. It had been so long, so long since he had last lay eyes on the person in front of him now. Of course her hair had been longer, and she had shown no fear at all. All her bitchiness was gone and all that remain was a frightened, naked, girl. Willow and Fred now appeared behind him, curious as to what was going on but Xander hardly noticed them. Fred pushed passed him to see who was in the room. "Cordelia!" she exclaimed rushing over to the girl. Willow was now next to Xander staring in awe as well. 

"Is that really her?" Willow wondered almost inaudible, "I mean it can't be the First because Fred is touching her but it doesn't look like Cordy." 

"Know what you mean," Xander managed. Fred had now pulled the blanked off the bed and wrapped it around Cordelia. 

"Is it really you?" Fred now asked, "You're not all evil?" Cordelia looked confusedly at Fred, then around the room at Xander and Willow. 

"Where am I?" she squeaked, "What happened to all the brightness?" 

"She doesn't have her memory," Fred sighed, disappointed, "Neither did evil Cordy when we found her." 

"Is...Is that my name?" Cordelia wondered. Fred nodded. Xander and Willow now moved over to where Fred and Cordelia sat on the bed.  

"I'm going to get Lorne," Fred stated, "See if he can get her memory back. Will you watch her?" Willow nodded as the girl ran out of the room in search of the Host. Xander examined the new Cordelia. She was certainly not the same Cordelia that was for sure. 

"Who're you?" she looked at Xander confusion still all over her face. 

"Xander Harris," he introduced, "We used to date."

"And I'm Willow," Willow put in, "I broke you guys up. Not purposely though." 

"Okay," Cordelia moved away slightly from the two. Xander and Willow were not offended though. She had just been launched back into the world, stark naked, from some other dimension with no memory of whom she was or where she came from. If they were in her position they would be afraid too. As they sat now in silence waiting for Fred to return with her demon friend the sudden brightness peaked out from under the curtain. Xander lifted himself off the bed and pulled the curtain open. The three squinted at the light as their eyes adjusted to the brightness. One they did Fred burst into the room with a bright smile on her face, Lorne right behind her. 

"They did it!" Fred exclaimed joyously, "They defeated the Beast! They brought the sun back!" Xander and Willow couldn't help but smile broadly as well. Lorne moved over to the cowering Cordelia. 

"Well, welcome home honey," Lorne greeted the poor confused girl before turning to the other three, "Let's wait for Wesley and the others to get home before we do anything." Fred, Willow, and Xander nodded in agreement. 

"In the meantime let's get her some clothes," Willow suggested. Fred coaxed Cordelia up and led her to her to her room. Xander and Lorne returned silently to the lobby of the Hotel. Minutes later Fred, and Willow joined them with a fully clothed Cordelia who seemed less confused but still equally awkward. The three women all took a seat, remaining quiet. The silence was awkward for all of them. Most of all for Xander, usually he would make some quip but now didn't seem like the time. The world seemed to be in too much danger to be making jokes. 

   After another fifteen minutes of silence the doors to the Hyperion flew open and the group of hunters entered the hotel, two short of what they had left with, but Spike had appeared less than a second later exiting from on of Angel's tunnels he had taken to avoid the sun. Xander was the first to pick up on the still missing person and approached Faith angrily. "Where is she?" he demanded, "Where is she Faith?" Faith looked guiltily to the ground. Willow curiously looked around at the group as she finished looking over each person her eyes widened.

"Oh god," she muttered. Xander clenched his fists together anxiously awaiting Faith's answer. 

"Where's Dawn!" Xander asked roughly. 

"Calm it Harris," Spike ordered, "Wasn't the slayer's fault." 

"God damn it Spike, shut up!" Xander shouted, "Where the hell is Dawn Faith?" 

"He took her," Faith whispered guiltily before looking Xander straight in the eye, her voice growing fierce now, "I was fighting the Beast and she went after him. He got her and took her away!" Xander shook his head and stormed off to the other side of the lobby. Willow went to calm him down as Faith closed her eyes, took a deep breath and stomped out of the hotel taking a seat on the steps outside. 

   As the other stared helplessly at the ground Conner looked around the room and his gaze fell upon Cordelia. "What's she doing here?" he directed his question towards Fred who was still sitting next to her. 

"It's the real Cordy," Fred informed him, "She...came back." 

"Does she have her memory?" Wesley wondered. Fred shook her head, negative. 

"Are we gonna have to do that memory spell again?" Gunn wondered tiredly. Wesley shrugged. They had too much to think about now. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_(In some dark, abandoned building.) _

"Where the hell have you been?" Evil Cordy shouted at Angelus as he and Dawn entered. 

"I had to take Angel's stupid tunnels," Angelus growled tossing Dawn onto the floor. Evil Cordelia looked at Dawn who sat up slowly and then back at Angelus. 

"God, that's all we need," she sighed, "The Beast is dead, the sun is back and you brought home a snack, the slayer's sister on top of that." 

"Then let me go if I'm a nuisance," Dawn offered. 

"NO!" Angelus snapped at Dawn kicking her down as she stood up. Dawn grunted and remained on the floor. 

"She's back too," Evil Cordelia snapped, "Those damn Powers That Be sent her back earlier." 

"So?" Angelus snarled, "What's it matter?" 

"She'll find us," 'Cordelia' informed him, "When they find out how to get her memory back she'll find us and we're in trouble." 

"I'm not," Angelus put in. 

"Yes, you are," she smiled, "They'll find his soul and Angel will be back."

"Ah, but he would have been back anyway," Angelus pointed out, "The witch is here to return his soul. So, I have nothing to lose either way." 

"Angelus, don't be so sure about the witch," Evil Cordelia walked by Angelus stroking his cheek, "She hasn't used this much power in a while. There might still be a chance that she won't be able to do it without going evil again." 

"Either way I have something to take care of," Angelus smirked down at Dawn who watched the two of them, "If Angel does come back he'll have something new to feel guilty about, something that he won't get redemption for, from anyone." Dawn's eyes widened realizing what was happening. Angelus was playing a game with himself, with Angel. He was going to use her as something to torture Angel with when he came back, something to make him feel guiltier than he ever had been before about the people he killed as Angelus. Dawn just hoped Faith, or someone found her before she was dead.  


	4. Pain

**A New Breed of Slayer**

**A/N****: A big thanks goes out to me Beta reader 'Willow' as she will be called here. She has worked hard to beta my last three chapters as well as this one and for that I am eternally gratefully. Other thanks are called for to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. You don't know how much it means that my story is appreciated. So, with no further ado I bring you my next chapter. Enjoy and please review. **

**Ch 4 Pain **

  Dawn whimpered as she looked up once more and realized she was now completely alone with Angelus. The horror stories that Willow, Xander and Buffy had fed her when she was younger about Angelus to keep her from patrolling flooded back into memory. Right about now she wished she was back home, tucked safely away in the confines of her bed listening to the shrieks of the potential slayers as they fought over whose turn it was to shower. Anything was better than this because she knew that there was a very good chance she would not live to see another day. Angelus seemed to read right into her fears as he smugly stood over her, probably thinking of all the horrible harm he would cause her. That was one thing she had learnt about Angelus as she began to research more, coming across his name in various different texts. He savoured the torture he inflicted on his prey. Just look at Drusilla. He had driven her insane before he turned her. Angelus knelt down and lifted Dawn's face so that she had no choice but to stare into his eyes. Eyes that showed no sign of Angel concealed in there. No care, no remorse nothing but Evil and Dawn shuddered. "Scared?" Angelus wondered, although he already knew the answer to that question. "You should be."

"Just kill me," Dawn pleaded, hoping that he wouldn't delay the inevitable. Angelus seemed amused by this request but showed no signs of appeasing to her plea.

"What fun would that be?" he cackled, "I like to soften them up first." With that Dawn received the first blow, a kick striking her in the stomach. "Of course you could always try to get away," Angelus suggested, "Just makes it all the more fun."

"I'm not going to run," Dawn informed the vampire. Why should she? Angelus would catch her before she reached the door. It was no use running. That was one thing that Buffy had been wrong about in teaching the potentials. Although you should listen to your instincts running wasn't going to help the situation. She knew. The first few nights Faith had began training Dawn she had run only to be caught and nearly killed by the attacker vampire. No, running was no good.

"Too bad," Angelus shrugged, disappointed, "At least tell me you're going to put up a fight. Being the sister of a slayer and all I would be extremely disappointed if you didn't. Then again you're just a big ball of energy. Buffy filled Angel in on the whole thing after she came back from the dead, again. You're just a bunch of fake memories and you should've been the one who died. That was your purpose anyway."

"No," Dawn gritted her teeth angrily before launching herself at Angelus. She was not just a ball of energy, the key to the heavens. Buffy had made that perfectly clear before she jumped into the portal. She was her sister, a Summers.

"Ooh, feisty," Angelus cooed grabbing Dawn's fist before it hit him and twisting it behind her arm, "But you know it's true. You know it, Angel knew it when he found out and the others know it too. You were the reason Buffy wasn't there. The reason they had to mourn. The reason Tara almost died. If it wasn't for you Glory wouldn't have bothered with them. You hurt them."

"No!" tears rolled down Dawn's cheeks from the pain of both Angelus twisting her arm and the words he whispered in her ears. They were words she had believed true herself for a long, long time.

"Yes," Angelus snickered, knowing his victim's weakness as usual. He let go of Dawn's arm right before he broke it and shoved her away. Dawn stumbled and fell to the ground from the strength of his shove. "You've caused them all pain. They hate you. They all do."

"No, no, no," Dawn cried covering her face as Angelus approached her shaking body. Dawn felt him standing over her and grew fierce and angry once again bolting up from her spot on the ground, "NO! You're wrong!"

"No Dawnie, I'm very, very right," Angelus moved closer to Dawn until she was pinned against a wall, "After all I've been buried inside Angel for a long, long time hearing all his thoughts. It's what he thought, felt." Dawn's breath grew heavier with anger at every word Angelus fed her. Anger towards herself, Angelus, Angel, everyone and then she launched again flashes of all Faith taught her, everything she had heard Buffy telling the potentials. She managed to get a few hits in on Angelus before he struck, backhanding her across the face. Dawn's head whipped to the side as she felt her eyes sting with fresh tears. Angelus didn't stop with that hit either. He sent a kick and another punch Dawn's way before sending her to the ground once more.

"Stop," Dawn pleaded, "Please, stop."  Angelus' eyes twinkled with delight at Dawn's plea. He showed no signs of wanting to stop his torture on his latest victim. He knew that it was most likely the last victim he'd have for a long time and if this was too good an opportunity to let down especially since it would haunt Angel and make him suffer more than any of the other victims Angelus had killed.

"Now, why would I do that?" Angelus questioned forcing Dawn to return to her feet and holding her up with one hand as he caressed her cheek. Dawn's closed her eyes to keep all the tears back, shaking, and praying for death.

~*~*~*~*~*~

_(Just outside the doors to the Hyperion.)_

   Faith slammed her already bloody fist into the cement of the stairs causing it to crumble under her strength. She was angry, bloody and sweating. The sun pounded down on her face from above as the inhabitants of Los Angeles went along their business not knowing the trouble Faith had gone through to bring the sun back. Not knowing that a sixteen, almost seventeen, year old girl was being tortured because of it. The sun was the only good thing that had come out of that day, but Faith would rather have Dawn safe inside the hotel. She felt a hand touch her shoulder and Faith looked up to find Willow standing above her. Faith frowned wondering whether or not she would give her hell for Angelus capturing Dawn as Xander had. "What?" Faith spat at the witch.

"Fred says there's a shower upstairs if you wanted..." the red-head trailed off as Faith nodded and rose form her seat. She might as well clean up. Entering the hotel Faith noticed for the first time the new arrival. A confused and not at all cheerleader like Cordelia sat in the lobby. Faith looked questioningly around, waiting for an answer. Xander had disappeared from the lobby as well as Spike, Conner, Wesley and Gunn.

"What's she doing here?" she addressed to anyone who was willing to answer her nodding towards the brunette.

"The Powers sent her back," Fred responded, "She doesn't remember anything, but Willow is working on that.

"And where's your showers?" Faith wondered.

"You can use the one in my room." Fred offered leading Faith up the stairs. Faith nodded her thanks as she entered the bathroom and slowly undressed and stepped into the steaming water. Rinsing off the blood anger rose in Faith's veins. Angelus was going to pay if Dawn was dead. She didn't care if Willow was going to bring back his soul; if Dawn was dead she would stake him. Dawn was the only one who offered Faith unquestioned forgiveness, the only one who gave her undying trust from the moment she met her. If Dawn was dead, Faith wasn't sure how she was going to return to Sunnydale.

   As she exited the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her Faith looked around the room. She found the bag holding the spare clothes sitting by the door and she silently thanked Willow for bringing it upstairs. Changing into the new set of clothes Faith towel-dried her hair and returned to the lobby where she found everyone sitting, waiting for something or other. As soon as she entered the room a stormy look crossed over Xander's face as he quickly averted his gaze from her wandering one." We've got to get Angel's soul back," Faith stated, "Willow, can you perform the spell now?"

"I'd need the soul," Willow said shaking her head, "The soul isn't in some other dimension where I can reach it without having it here. It's somewhere trapped in a jar. I need to summon it."

"How soon can you do it?" Faith wondered.

"Right away," Willow informed the slayer, "But we're going to try to get Cordy's memory first. If the other Cordelia has her memory if we return it to the real Cordelia there's a chance she might know where Angelus is holding Dawn and we could get there faster."

"There's also a chance it won't work," Faith snapped, "And that Dawn will be dead by the time we get Angel back." She heard Xander mumble something under his breath.

"We have to try," Willow stated staring the slayer straight in the eyes. Faith was surprised. Willow had certainly obtained some guts since Faith had last seen her.

"Fine," Faith muttered, "I'm going out, search for information on Angelus. Look for a trail."

"Then you'll need me," Conner stepped up.

"Okay, you got a cell phone?" Faith questioned. Conner shook his head.

"I'm coming," Xander put in, "And I've got a cell phone."

"You better not get in the way," Faith threatened, "The last think I need is someone else in danger."

"I'll call you if anything comes up," Willow cut Xander off before her could respond to Faith. Faith nodded and motioned for Conner and Xander to follow, which they did.

~*~*~*~*~*~

_(Back where Angelus is torturing Dawn.)_

  Dawn felt her cheek pulsing, swelling up from Angelus' hit. Her lip was now cut and bleeding and she was almost certain he arm her had broken during her last attempt to fight Angelus off. She was in pain, both mental and physical, and she knew that Angelus was not going to kill her anytime soon. It was in his grin, his eyes, in every movement he made he made sure Dawn knew that he would not relent, not before nightfall. Smoothly Angelus filled her brain with horrid words on how terrible a person she was. How everyone hated her and would not miss her. Worst was, Dawn was beginning to believe him. With every word he fed her Dawn became more certain that it was the truth. Hate for the world and everyone she had ever cared for filled her veins and she wished to be rid of this horrible pain that clutched her heart. Angelus now stood in front of her, continuing his torture. Adding more bruises to Dawn's body, adding more to that horrible feeling that held her heart. Hate and evil engulfed her to a point Dawn almost wanted to end her life herself, to get this over with, not having to wait until it pleased Angelus to kill her. She couldn't fight much longer. Not with one arm anyway.

    Angelus knew all this about his victim. Knew everything that was and would be going through her head as time progressed and the night drew nearer. He knew what to tell her and when to weaken her barrier even more, to bruise her self image and the image of her loved ones. He savoured every minute of this young girl's pain. Watch her shrink into the corner wishing to end her very own existence. Waited for the exact right moment to spring again as he had his fun, for this was fun. This was Angelus' sport. The best part was that when Angel returned he would be able to re-live this again and again as Angel sulked in his remorse over killing this poor, innocent creature. Angel would know the endless torture he had put her through; know all the pain he had caused before killing her. He looked down at the shaking body of the girl and his smirk grew. It was time to dig deeper into this girl's mind. "You've been a bad girl for a very long time," he growled into her ear as he dragged her out of her corner, "You hid things from Buffy about Faith. You knew she was meeting the mayor. She told you everything. You could've stopped her. Prevented all the horrible things she had done to Buffy and the others, to Angel. When Faith was out of her coma, after she came to visit, you could've told Buffy. Then when she told you she was going to get back at Buffy, switch bodies. You wanted her to, didn't you? You wanted Faith to be Buffy, your sister? You wanted Buffy to rot away in jail in Faith's place didn't you Dawn?"

"No," Dawn mumbled. She had uttered that word a lot in the past hours, not wanting to believe what Angelus told her. Not wanting to believe that she had done such horrible things, but she did. She couldn't help it. She remembered after Faith left Sunnydale calling Angel, the one person she felt she could trust. Hiding in her room when no one was home and telling him all that had happened. Angel had consoled her. Told her it wasn't her fault that everything was going to be alright. He had promised never to tell Buffy about their conversation and for all she knew he hadn't. Dawn hadn't told Buffy about Faith's late night visits and her confessions on everything she had, and would do because she felt if she had she would betray Faith and lose her as a friend. Yet, Angelus was right. If she had told Buffy about Faith maybe Buffy, or Giles or even Wesley would've been able to convince Faith not to revert to the dark side. A lot of things could've been prevented.

"It's true," Angelus remarked, "Angel was only trying to protect you by not telling Buffy. He knew you had done wrong by letting Faith go around doing her evil."

"Shut up!" Dawn shouted limply throwing a punch with her unbroken arm. Angelus snickered at her attempt and shoved it off. He then lifted his leg and kicked the back of her leg sending Dawn to her knees on the floor, whimpering with pain. Dawn glared up at the vampire and drew up the remainder of her strength and swung her leg around tripping the vamp, who flipped back up onto his feet almost before he touched the ground.

"Getting brave are we?" Angelus wondered taking a step closer to Dawn, "We'll change that."

~*~*~*~*~*~

_(On the streets __Los Angeles__.)_

    Faith and Xander walked a little behind Conner, who was scoping out Angelus. Neither one of them spoke but Xander made perfectly clear in his silence how he felt about this situation and Faith. He blamed her. He blamed her for a lot, Faith knew that but right now the main issue was that he blamed her for Angelus torturing Dawn. Faith couldn't help but accept Xander's silent blame because she knew it was her fault. She could've, should've stopped Dawn from going after Angelus. From the minute she met Dawn Faith had felt the need to protect that young thirteen year old from the evil of the world. She had just lost her watcher, her mother, her family because of what she was, the slayer. Sometimes when training Dawn she forgot that she was a normal girl and not the slayer. That was what happened tonight. Seeing Dawn slay the vamps as easily as she would, made Faith forget that she was just a young girl, and not the chosen one.

     The sun burned on their backs as Faith looked around at the faces of all the citizens going around their daily business, as if they forgot that the sun had ever disappeared. As Conner continued to track Angelus Faith began to realize it was no use searching for Angelus in the middle of the day. Not without some sort of idea on where he might be. Conner seemed to realize this as well as he turned around and headed back to the hotel. Despite knowing that it was hopeless Faith couldn't help but snap at the boy, "Where are you going?"

"Home," Conner grunted, "It's no use."

"The hell it is," Faith growled. She couldn't help it. She was angry at herself and no matter how hopeless it seemed Faith didn't want to give up. She couldn't give up because if she went back to the hotel right now it would be as if giving up on finding Dawn alive.

"Stop pretending to care," Xander spoke up for the first time since he had left the hotel, "You can't care."

"Xander I'm really sorry that I led you to believe that," Faith snapped, "But right now I'm trying to find Dawn."

"Why? Why do you care now?" Xander wondered.

"Because Dawn and Angel are the two people who believed in me no matter what," Faith informed him, "They mean more to me than even my life. And I can't lose them Xander. If Dawn dies, I lose both of them." Xander's cell phone rang and he moved away from Faith and Conner to answer it. As he hung up he turned back to Faith.

"We're going back," Xander updated, "Willow's going to perform the spell now and we're going back." Faith stormed ahead of them heading back to the hotel. Hopefully Cordelia would be the key to finding Dawn, to saving Dawn.

~*~*~*~*~*~

_(At the Hyperion, in the lobby.)_

  Willow rung her hands nervously waiting for Xander to return before she preformed the spell on Cordelia. She had promised she would wait, but for all she knew these few minutes could mean the difference between saving Dawn and having Faith stake Angelus. Willow saw it in her eyes, could see the murderous look that she too had once sported. If Dawn's dead, Willow shuddered at the thought. It was the same thought that was going through Faith's mind and Xander's at this very moment. A thought that scared Willow to even think about because she couldn't stand to lose someone else she loved. She couldn't stand to have another one of her friends murdered out of cold blood, this time by a soulless vampire, Angelus.

    The door to the Hyperion swung open once again sending Spike ducking into the shadows of the hotel to escape the light. Faith stormed in followed by Conner and lastly Xander. Faith leaned against the counter waiting for Fred, Lorne, Wesley and Gunn to return to the lobby with the remaining materials. Cordelia still sat in the same place as before staring curiously at the people around her, waiting for someone to address her and inform her on what was happening. As the others returned to the room Willow took a deep breath and gathered her energy before approaching Cordelia. "You sit over there now," Willow instructed her, "We're going to try and get your memory back." The girl nodded and followed Willow's instructions.

"Where do you need these?" Gunn wondered holding up two candles.

"Here," Willow took the candles from Gunn and placed them where she needed them.

"I'm going back there," Lorne put in as Willow sat down across from Cordelia, "Last time we did a memory spell I woke up with a splitting headache tied to the couch."

"Alright," Willow breathed, "Here it goes." As Willow chanted the spell focusing mainly on the spell and its purpose the others looked on praying for it to work, praying that they would get Cordelia, Angel and Dawn back. Praying that they didn't lose Willow to all the power that was being used for the spell. A flash of light filled the room as Willow concluded the spell and when they could all see again, Cordelia was unconscious.

~*~*~*~*~*~

_ (On Some Other Plane.) _

_   Cordelia opened her eyes and was surrounded by the swirling colours and lights. The white cloud under her feet, everything she had gotten used to during the time she had had to spend here, learning to harness the power of the visions. In front of her stood a young girl clad in a long white robe. Her long, wavy brown hair hung loosely over her shoulder and her brown eyes sparkled. She motioned for Cordelia to come nearer and she obeyed. "What's going on?" Cordelia asked, "Why am I here?"_

_"To get you memory," the girl replied, "Do you remember me Cordy? Everything I taught you?"_

_"Yes," the brunette nodded, "Everything."_

_"Good, you will remember it when you return to your body as well," the girl smiled and held out her hand revealing a small, glowing globe in her hand._

_"What's that?" Cordelia wondered._

_"Your memory," the young girl informed her, "An evil being entered earth, taking your form and deceiving your friends. Thinking that she was you they cast a spell and gave her memory, your memories. With the memory of everyone was able to manipulate them. __Willow__'s spell allowed me to retrieve your memory but it's not your memory anymore. You're now connected with the one who takes your form and in order for you to reclaim you life you must kill her. She has done many evil deeds that you will remember and regret but once she is gone, those things will no longer be your memories. They will disappear and you will only remember what you did as you."_

_"It doesn't make any sense," Cordelia admitted._

_"It's not supposed to," the girl smiled at Cordelia and stretched her hand out, "Take it. They need you. Someone's life will be taken without your help." Cordelia reached out and as she touched the glowing globe the girl and her surroundings disappeared and instead were replaced by a vision._

_~~A girl with straight flowing brown hair sat cowering in the corner of an old building, her face not visible. A tall man stepped in front of the girl. The view whirled around until his face was visible, morphed, fangs showing. He pulled the limp girl up and pushed her hair aside before feeding on her, drinking her blood. As he finished he pushed her back onto the floor. Her arm lay on her side revealing her watch and the time, __12:00__. Then the girl's lifeless face was then revealed. ~~_

~*~*~*~*~*~

_(In the lobby at the Hyperion.)_

"DAWN!" Cordelia shouted snapping awake. She became fully aware of her surrounding, the people, and the memories. Memories filled her head. She remembered who she was, where she was from and, what she had done. Horror filled her eyes as memories from the months passed, things that the monster who had taken her form had done to her friends, her life.

"What is it?" Cordelia's gaze wavered over to the redhead sitting in front of her, "What's happened to Dawn?"

"Willow..." Cordelia looked at the girl who seemed to have changed so much since she had last seen her.

"Great, we've established you remember," Faith lifted herself off the desk and approached Cordelia, "What do you know about Dawn?"

"I had a vision," Cordelia clarified glaring at the slayer, "Dawn was...Angelus he...she was dead."

"Oh god," Xander muttered.

"Anything to tell us how much time we 'ave?" Spike spoke up from his corner.

"What is he doing here?" Cordelia asked staring at Spike cautiously.

"Is it that hard to believe I 'ave a soul?" Spike wondered grouchily.

"Uh...Yeah," Cordelia responded truthfully, "12. Midnight. We have until midnight."

"Do you know where she is?" Faith wondered. Cordelia nodded.

"I'm sharing my memories with the evil me," Cordelia updated them, "I remember what she had done and will until I kill her. She, I, talked to Angel not long ago when the brought Dawn in... She was angry. It's at this old building uptown."

"How fast can we get there?" Faith asked.

"An hour, half an hour depending on traffic," Cordelia responded.

"Willow, get to work on getting Angel's soul," Faith ordered.

"Just let me get some Tylenol," Willow got up and headed towards her purse.

"Let's go then," Faith motioned to Cordy. Cordy sighed and followed the slayer.

"Wait," Xander stopped them at the door, "I'm coming.

"No," Faith pushed past him, "You're not getting in the way. Stay and help Willow." With that they were gone. Cordelia was having a hard time dealing with all that was happening. Faith was out of jail and Dawn was being tortured by Angelus. Not to mention some evil being taking her form and sleeping with Conner. That was one think that seriously disturbed her and she was glad that Conner wasn't coming along for this. If they didn't kill the other her soon she didn't think she would even be able to be in the same room as Conner knowing was had happened between him and someone he thought was her. She pushed that out of her mind and focused on finding Dawn who had a matter of hours before she would be killed by Angelus.

~*~*~*~*~*~

_(The old building where Angelus has Dawn.)_

"She had a vision!" 'Cordelia' stormed into the room where Angelus was torturing Dawn, "She knows when you're going to kill her. They're on their way now."

"Good," Angelus chuckled, "When will they join out little party?"

"Soon," 'Cordelia responded, "Twenty minutes tops."

"She'll be dead before then," Angelus assured his "master", "Now go!" 'Cordelia' glared at the vampire before leaving the room so he could do away with his victim. Angelus turned to Dawn and grinned. "Looks like the slayer is on her way," he stroked her cheek, "Too bad she's going to find you dead." Dawn's lower lip trembled. Angelus ran his thumb over it, "Don't worry though, it's the best part." He brushed her hair back and kissed her neck lightly before morphing into his demon form.

~*~*~*~*~*~

_(On the streets of LA.)_

"He's going to kill her now," Cordelia turned brusquely to look at the slayer, "She knows about the vision, she told him. He's going to kill her.

"Shit," Faith cursed slamming her hand into the building next to her. They were taking a shortcut through the alleyway. Faith's reaction to the news surprised Cordelia because the slayer seemed to sincerely care. The same slayer that had made them go through hell in Sunnydale, tortured her and Wesley, seemed to really care about whether this girl died or not. "Where is it?" Faith wondered, "With good old Slayer speed I can get there."

"Make a right, on the next corner," Cordelia began, "If you want to get there even quicker jump the fence that's to your left after you turn, continue straight two more streets and then left, and then right five streets after that. It's the oldest house at the end of the block."

"Great," Faith muttered before taking off.

~*~*~*~*~

_(At the old building.)_

  As Angelus' fang came closer to her neck Dawn remember the tranquilizer gun. She had had many opportunities where she could've used it, but with Angelus feeding her his torment she had forgotten about it. Slipping her hand quickly into her pocket she pulled it out slowly as Angelus' fangs sunk into her neck and began feeding. Dawn squeezed her eyes shut from the pain as she felt her blood quickly leave her body. She pressed the gun against his lower abdomen and pressed the trigger. Angelus' body fell limp against Dawn who gathered a last bit of strength to push him off. As soon as Angelus was lying on the floor, unconscious, Dawn fainted.

~*~*~*~*~*~

_(Outside the old building.)_

   Faith was hardly out of breath as she reached the house Cordelia was talking about around ten minutes later. It was more of a building than a house and Faith sincerely wished that this was the place and that she was not too late. Realizing that she was wasting time she crashing into the building and raced up the stairs, and as she opened the first door on her left she found and unconscious Angelus and a seemingly lifeless Dawn. Faith rushed to the teenager's side and felt for a pulse only to retract her arm and look at her fingers. Blood. She turned Dawn's head and saw the fang marks. Angelus had fed, but she was still alive. The tranquilizer gun lay at Dawn's side and Faith was relieved that Dawn had had that. Or else, Faith knew she would be dead now, but Dawn was still badly beaten and if they didn't get her to a hospital soon she would most likely die.

    Now, Faith looked over to the tranquilized Angelus. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't leave Angelus here, not at the risk of him finding Dawn and finishing the job. Yet, if she didn't leave him here it was almost certain Dawn would die from lack of blood. As a stroke of luck Conner and Spike burst into the room. "Bloody hell," Spike cursed as his gaze fell on Dawn.

"How'd you get here?" Faith wondered.

"Peaches' tunnels," Spike informed the slayer, "An' the boy 'ere."

"I need to get her a hospital," Faith notified them picking the girl up, "Take care of Angelus." Faith carried Dawn towards the door before turning and facing the men, "And Spike, make sure the kid doesn't stake him."

"Sure thing slayer," Spike nodded as he turned to help Conner with Angelus.

~*~*~*~*~*~

_(At the hospital.)_

   Faith stepped back into the hospital room. She hated hospitals. The smell, the colours, the people, she hated everything about them. She had just gotten back from calling Xander back at the hotel to get an update on how Willow was doing on getting Angel's soul back and to tell him they found Dawn. Needless to say he was on his way over. Dawn was still unconscious and according to the doctors there was a 50:50 chance that she would come to. Faith took a seat next to Dawn's hospital bed and wondered what Buffy would be thinking if she knew what had happened to her sister, what her sister looked like. Dawn's arm was in a cast, her lip cut and her cheek bruised badly as well as the rest of her body. The doctors had also informed Faith, the patient's "sister" that Dawn would most likely be limping due to a sprain in her ankle. Also, due to her lack of blood Dawn had also needed a blood transfusion and since Dawn seemed to have a rare blood type they worried about whether or not they would find a match. Surprisingly enough Faith was able to donate blood to Dawn.

   Of course they had asked Faith about what had happened to Dawn. Faith just said she had been beaten by someone in the family and that the police were looking into finding him. What else could she do? She did now want the police crawling all over the hospital; chances were someone might recognize her.

   As Faith sat there she noticed Xander enter the lobby from the window of the room. He seemed to be having a problem with the nurse behind the desk. Faith sighed and shook her head before getting up and exiting the room to inform the nurse that it was all right, she knew him and he could come visit. As soon as Xander entered the room and saw Dawn he was at her side. Faith noticed he looked just as guilty about that as she felt. Maybe Xander's anger towards her was towards himself as well. "Is she going to be alright?" He questioned, tears appearing in his eyes and he stroked Dawn's hair.

"They don't know," Faith shrugged, "They don't know."

"Buffy didn't want her to come," Xander whispered, "Willow and I convince Buffy that it was the right thing to do letting her come. It would get Dawn out of the house; give them her one less girl to worry about."

"It was the right thing," Faith assured Xander, "I wouldn't have broken out if Dawn hadn't come and you probably wouldn't have asked me to break out. The beast would've still been loose too."

"But look at what happened," Xander pointed to Dawn, "Look at her. She came here and I allowed her to go out. I promised Buffy, Willow promised Buffy we would look out for her and...And look at her. Faith, she's on the verge of death! She was tortured by Angelus and nearly died. It hurts seeing her like this. I've strived so long to protect them, to protect Buffy and Dawn. And now look."

"I...I used to take her out and train," Faith confided, "When I met her I felt the need to protect her. So, I used to sneak her out and train her, teach her how to fight. A lot of the time I forgot she wasn't a slayer. She was great at it. We...we created this bond that I've never had with anyone before. I told her everything. I put so much on her shoulders. Telling her what I did, about the mayor and what was going to happen. I made her promise not to tell Buffy. And Angel, Xander, Angel saved me when I thought I couldn't be saved. Dawn was amazing tonight. Fighting off vamps like any slayer would and I forgot. I handed her the tranquilizer gun and allowed her to go after Angelus. This is my fault, my fault that Dawn is like this. That Angel will be locking himself in his room the minute he gets his soul back, afraid to come out."

"So we're all playing the blame game then," Xander sighed, "Deadboy is going to have a hard time with this."

"Yeah," Faith nodded, "That's why Angelus picked Dawn to torture."

"I wish I could stake him," Xander pounded on his knee.

"X-man, changing the subject," Faith shifting uncomfortably in her seat, "I'm sorry about the whole, trying to choke you thing."

"Hey, I nearly got sacrificed the other day so it's okay," Xander cracked a smile and Faith couldn't help but smile a little as well.  Then, the smiles faded as they listened to the slow even beeps of the machine tied up to Dawn. Waiting for something anything to happen, waiting for their greatest fear to happen, waiting for the teenager to wake up and be alright, just waiting.

~*~*~*~*~*~

_(Back at the Hyperion.)_

  Night had fallen and they were all tired. Cordelia still hadn't returned since she and Faith left and the others hypothesized that she was getting rid of the evil version of herself. Conner and Spike were keeping and eye on the unconscious Angelus, and each other. Fred lay tiredly on the couch as Lorne and Willow prepared for the spell. Wesley and Gunn each sat in a corner, respectively. Willow was most probably the most tired of them all. She had summoned Angel's soul and prepared to restore it. She was worn out from the last two spells and eager to visit Dawn in the hospital and make sure she was alright. This had to be done first.

   Spike and Conner sat in the basement where Angelus was caged. Waiting patiently for either Angelus to wake up, or Angel to return and begin his whole brooding remorse routine. The vampire in the cell began to stir on the ground and both knew that it was Angelus and not Angel right away. "Bitch," Angelus muttered referring to Dawn, "Had to ruin a perfectly good meal. I hope she's dead."

"Sorry, she's still alive," Conner informed the Vampire, his father.

"Damn," Angelus muttered, "Feisty one. I didn't get a chance to do my favourite part either because of her damn tranquilizer trick." Angelus smiled nastily. Spike gripped his fists together. He knew very well what Angelus would have done to Dawn if he had killed her and he didn't want to think about that.

"Go check if Red got the spell ready," Spike ordered Conner. Conner grudgingly went upstairs to check on the others and Angelus chuckled.

"Going to let me out Spike?" Angelus inquired, "We can kill the witch and rule the night again, find Dru."

"Rather not," Spike turned down the offer as Conner returned.

"It's ready," he stated, "She's doing it now." Spike smiled triumphantly. When he turned back to the cage he saw that it was Angel who was back. The vampire was cowering in the corner of the cage. Guilt traced all over his face and Spike could only imagine what was going through his head.

  Angel could still taste her blood on his lips; feel her slim body shaking in his arms, how easily her arm had broken under his wrath. She was in the hospital, on the verge of death. Angel approached the front of the cage slowly, refusing to look at Spike and Conner. "I want to see her," he murmured. Spike nodded and sent Conner to fetch Wesley who had the key.

   Wesley, Conner, Willow, Gunn, Fred and Lorne entered the basement all looking at the newly returned Angel. Willow looked sadly upon him as he sang to Lorne to be sure that he was actually Angel. Angel had to sing the whole song loud and clear since last time Angelus had been able to trick them. Finally, Wesley opened the cage. "I'll take him," Willow offered, "I want to see her anyway." The others nodded their approvement as Willow and Angel exited the basement and the hotel.

~*~*~*~*~*~

_(Dawn's hospital room.)_

  Faith and Xander looked up at the door as Angel and Willow stood at the door. Faith stood up, in fighter's stance before realizing it was Angel who stood before them. Willow, seeing Dawn, rushed to the side of the bed almost as quickly as Xander had. She stood looking down at the girl, tears streaming down her cheek. Xander stood up from the chair and hugged Willow. Telling her everything was going to be alright. Angel stood motionless at the door. He was hardly able to look at Dawn. "I...I hurt her so much," he whined, "She...she was scared, wanted to die but I wouldn't let her."

"It wasn't you," Faith tried to comfort Angel; "Angelus is not you."

"He's in me now," Angel stepped away from the room slightly, "He's a part of me, a dangerous part. Angelus did this to hurt me. The things he said, I said, I did to her. She...she wanted to die. Begged, cried. I played with her mind, used her memories as weapons."

"Angel, it wasn't you," Willow now stepped forward wiping her tears, "Not the real you."

"I'm too dangerous," Angel shook his head stepping away from the group once more, "If Angelus gets released again. It's too dangerous."

"I didn't curse you," Willow informed him, "I gave you the gift of your soul. Angelus won't be coming back, ever unless the soul is forcefully removed by black magicks."

"You mean he can..." Xander trailed off from Dawn's bedside. Willow nodded affirmative. Then, Dawn's lifeline went flat and the constant whine of the machine filled the room. Everyone turned to stare at the girl lying in the bed, dead. They stared in shock as the line remained flat and doctors pushed passed them to reach the girl, to bring her back. Willow buried her face into Xander's chest letter her tears flow freely as he hugged her trying to whisper words of hope into her ears, hope that he himself didn't believe in. Faith just stared at the now shut door that blocked them out from what was going on inside the room. She did not move or speak, just stared. Angel watched these three sadly realizing that he had caused them all pain, pain that could never be healed.

~*~*~*~*~*~

_(On another Plane.)_

_   Dawn felt healed, safe. Looking down at her body she realized she was. There were no bruises, blood, scars, she was healed. Then, as a young girl appeared in front of her Dawn realized she was dead. Her eyes widened in shock, she didn't want to be dead. The young girl didn't say anything to her. She just held out her hand for Dawn to grasp. Reluctantly Dawn took it and found herself back in the hospital room._

_   Nurses and Doctors were rushing around her lifeless body. Xander, Willow, Faith and Angel stood watching outside. Fear, sadness, and guilt were written across all their features. Dawn knew that it was Angel who stood there and not Angelus. Being dead she seemed to be able to see their auras. Yet, even knowing it was Angel Dawn wasn't able to look at him, afraid to. Angel was the spitting image of the one who had put her in this situation, being dead; it was him in fact, his body just soulless. Dawn then looked at her battered body as the doctors tried to revive her. "Go back," the girl next to her whispered, "It's not your time."_

_"I can't," Dawn confessed, "I can't."_

_"You can," a new voice filled the room, Joyce Summers appeared in front of her body, "You have to Dawny. Live. They need you to."_

_"Mom," Dawn reach to her mother, "Mom."_

_"Go honey, go back," Joyce motioned towards Dawn's body lying on the bed. Dawn looked sadly at her mother._

_"Mom was it you?" Dawn wondered, "I have to know. Was it you that day when you told me Buffy wouldn't choose me?" Before Joyce could answer Dawn's question she was slammed back into her body and everything went black._

~*~*~*~*~

_(Back in Real Time.)_

   The whine returned to the slow rhythmic beeps and the doctors sighed, relieved that they had now lost another patient They began to run tests, checking the patient's blood pressure and heart rate among other things, including brain waives. One doctor stepped away from the mad rush and exited the room. As he did all four people outside the room watched him intently, waiting for the news that he bore. "She's alive," he informed them, almost able to feel their relief, "She's still unconscious and we're running tests to be sure everything is normal. She lost a great amount of blood and although Ms. Summers here donated some, she might need more. I would like to ask all of you to donate some blood and we'll see if we have any other matches." 

"Sure..." Willow nodded slowly, looking questioningly at Faith. Ms. Summers? Sure, she had expected Faith to give another name to the nurses than her own, but Ms. Summers making Faith Dawn's sister, Buffy. It was all a bit too déjà vu. 

"Is...is she going to be alright?" Angel wondered. 

"We're not sure yet," the doctor, Sanchez his name tag read, responded, "We'll need to monitor her very closely." 

"I also have a few questions to ask about the patient's wounds," Dr. Sanchez looked down at his files on Dawn, "The...bite marks on her neck are quite strange. Of course, I've seen them before but mostly on people who are already dead. We feel the need to ask you if any of you know the origins of these marks..." The others looked at each other, neither sure how to answer as the doctor trailed off. 

"We don't know," Faith spoke up angrily, "I told the nurse all I knew about the beating and what happened. By the way, the patient has a name, it's Dawn."  

"I'm sorry Ms. Summers," Doctor Sanchez bowed his head as a nurse exited the room; "I know this must be hard for you." 

"Dr. Sanchez," she called, "We need you in here." The doctor nodded at the nurse. 

"If there are any developments I'll let you know," he enlightened before returning into the room behind the nurse.  Faith gripped her fists together tightly wanting to kick Dr. Sanchez's ass. She had just been scared shitless that Dawn had died, no fuck this was hard. Then again, he didn't really care; he just didn't want Faith to pull a fit in the hospital. 

"Ms. Summers huh slayer?" the familiar voice caused the four to turn around, finding Spike standing there with Cordelia. Faith sighed, right just what she needed, Spike. 

"Got a problem Spike?" Faith asked, "Couldn't exactly use my real name could I?" 

"How's the bit?" Spike wondered. 

"Died briefly," Faith briefed. Cordelia approached the stained glass window, barely able to make out Dawn's form on the bed. 

"Does Buffy know yet?" she asked. 

"No," Xander spoke up, "We don't want to worry her." 

"Or send her on an angry rampage to stake Angel," Cordy interpreted, "Wouldn't be the first time."  Cordy gaze then shifted to Angel, "How you doing?" 

"How am I supposed to be doing?" Angel inquired, "I nearly killed her...she could still die..." 

"Angel, it wasn't you fault," Cordy tried to comfort the vamp, "You couldn't control what was going on." 

"Hey, I'd keep my voice down," Faith interrupted the two nodding towards the nurses behind the counter. The last thing she needed was more unwanted questioned from stupid doctors about Dawn's 'predator' and Angel and Cordelia's little chat would certainly draw suspicion if over-heard.  "I'm going to donate more blood," Faith notified the group before storming off. She couldn't stand the way Angel was acting, the fact that Dawn was in a coma and that everyone else was acting like it was the end of the world. Like they really gave a fuck when all they were worried about, in her opinion, was whether or not they would have the deal with the wrath of Buffy. Well, Faith couldn't care less about what Buffy thought. After the other slayer hated her, wanted to kill her, so why should she care? 

"Wait," Willow spoke up and Faith turned around, "I'm coming too."  Faith shrugged as Willow came along followed by Xander. She felt guilty then for accusing them of not caring. They did, both of them. She saw that they did. She was just fucked up, just angry that this was happening. That there would be another spat with Buffy, although having to be around Buffy at all was something Faith dreaded anyway. Faith had a feeling that Xander and Willow dreaded retuning as well, which lead her to wondering how much Buffy had changed since their last encounter. 

_(A couple of hours later.)_

  The doctors had all slowly returned to their other tasks and patients, some waiting for test results, others waiting for death and few waiting for the girl to wake up. Faith, Xander, Willow, Spike, Cordelia and Angel had all been allowed back into the room, rather reluctantly on the front of the nurses and doctor's. Every fifteen minutes to half hour either a doctor or nurse retuned to the room to check on Dawn.  Now, the six just waited. It was an hour to sunrise and Spike and Angel were preparing to head back to the hotel, Gunn and Wesley were meeting them outside in a half an hour. Willow sat on the floor next to Dawn's bed, her head leaning against Xander's knees turning his cellphone slowly in her hands. Her fingers brushing the numbers every so often, longing to call the familiar numbers of the Summers' home and talk to Buffy, Kennedy or even Andrew to make sure that all was fine. That they were all alive and they needn't worry about anyone else. Spike stood over Dawn watching her protectively, and Angel loomed guiltily in the corner. Faith sat silently in the chair on the opposite side of the bed than Willow, Xander, and Spike with Cordelia nearby. None of them spoke. None of them wanted to. 

    As another minute or so passed there was a change in the air. The six towards to the closed door where Dawn stood, completely healed not a scratch to be found. They were in awe a moment as the girl stepped forward, an odd grin upon her face. Spike was the first one to come to a definite realization. "Bugger off," he told the girl. 

"Aw...Spikey is that anyway to speak to me?" 'Dawn' grinned, "I mean I'm almost dead after all. Do you want the last words you'll ever get to say to me be bugger off?" 

"You're not the Niblet," Spike spat. 

"Oh god," Willow sighed as both she and Xander stared from Dawn to the First, "Buffy..." 

"Oh, yes, Buffy," the first rolled its eyes, "My wonderful, loving sister. So loving she sent me here to get killed by Angelus. Of course I'm still alive...for now." The gaze of the first fell upon Angel who stood in his corner still. "Oh, and you," the First approached Angel, "Look at me. Look at what you did to me. You don't deserve to live you've done many bad things to Buffy and me. You should've stayed dead when Buffy staked you. You should've staked yourself a long, long time ago." Angel fidgeted glancing at Faith catching a glimpse at the stake she had tucked away. The First seemed to notice this as well and went on, "Go on. End this all right now. Just take it and put it through that non-beating heart of yours. Maybe it'll bring me back." 

"Angel, don't," Faith protested, "You're a champion and you need to work for redemption. Ours is a fight that is never done. You can't give up." 

"Faithie," the First now turned on Faith. The slayer managed to not show emotion as she stared into the eyes that looked so much like Dawn's, "You can be blamed to. You did so much to me too. You're a murderer and not only that but you used Dawn. You told her everything you were going to do before you did it. You told her all that you had done. You filled her mind with so many things she couldn't help but go pouring it out to Angel after you left Sunnydale. And Angelus used it all against her. All of you here can be blamed. It's all your faults, every single one of you."  

   The door to the room swung open to reveal Gunn and The First disappeared with a small wave of Dawn's hand. "Yo! You vamps ready to go?" Gunn asked, "Sunrise is in an hour." 

"Yeh," Spike nodded glancing over at Angel, "Not sure 'bout Peaches." 

"I'm ready," Angel spoke up, "Let's go." Gunn nodded and the two Vamps followed him out. 

"You think he'll be alright?" Willow asked. 

"Eh, brood boy will be fine," Xander said bitterly, "He's not comatose." 

"Xan," Willow mumbled quietly, "We both know Angel and Angelus are completely different." 

"Yet completely the same," Xander added. 

"Harris," Cordelia spoke up for the first time for a long time, they had almost forgotten about her presence, "I've known Angel for a long time and got to know him well during the past four years...and Angel's haunted by everything he had ever done. If Dawn doesn't make it, he's not going to get over it. He came close to staking himself just second ago." 

"Help..." Dawn mumbled weakly from her bed, "It hurts." They turned to Dawn who was now lying awake; her eyes squeezed tight, fist balled up and tears streaming down her cheek. Willow was on her knees now leaning over the bed stroking Dawn's hair. Dawn sunk down into the pillow and shook her head slowly, "No..." The nurse entered the room just then and ran off to inform the doctors on the news of Dawn's awakening. 

"Dawnie," Willow looked sadly down at her. Dawn opened her eyes then and looked around the room her gaze lastly falling on Faith and the slayer stared into her eyes for a while before a bunch of doctors, including Sanchez, entered the room and ordered them out. Faith reluctantly followed Cordy, Willow, and Xander. She didn't want to leave Dawn alone with them, not after what she had seen in her eyes. It was the same haunted look that she had seen in Angel's eyes, the same look she herself had sported. Faith realized now that although Angel's pain was never ending, Dawn's was just beginning. Faith could see the pain, the fear, and the sadness all there. Pain that was now only physical, but mental as well and Faith felt for the girl. She wanted to help her, but in order to help she needed to find out what Angelus had told Faith, and to convince Dawn that it was all lies and from the look in her eyes Faith knew it was going to be hard. She had to do it though. Dawn meant the world to her and she would do anything to help her, anything. 


	5. Renegade Prt 1

**A New Breed of Slayer**

**A/N: **Alright, sorry it took me so long. I've been really busy with school and all. A big thank you to all who reviewed and hopefully I'm going to be able to continue this well enough despite the fact that I know how it ends now. As Romance being the secondary genre, that will come into play later in the story. Also, a little reminder that this takes place after the episode 'First Date' but I might incorporate some things from the later episodes just to make it effective but I doubt that I'll be bringing Caleb into the mix; I hated him and am more than glad he died but I really don't have much of a use for him and Xander's eyes will remain intact. Anyway, on with the story then, I think you've waited long enough for this next chapter. 

**Ch 5 Renegade Prt.1 **

Xander sat opposite of Faith in Dawn's small, private, hospital room. The sterile smell stung his nose and he stroked Dawn's hand, his tears threatening to emerge once again. The doctors had sedated Dawn after her outburst and she had quietly drifted off to sleep without a struggle. Despite the doctor's assurance that now that Dawn had awoken from her coma it was likely she would be alright, despair still hung over all of their hearts. Faith was the worst. The doctors had tried to convince her to go home, wait for a call, but Faith had pushed passed into Dawn's room and had not left her side since. Xander, Willow and Cordelia had all been surprised by Faith's love for Dawn. It was a different kind of love from that of lovers themselves, it was a sisterly love. Nonetheless, love was something none of them thought Faith was capable of. 

    Willow and Cordelia had returned to the Hyperion to get some rest, both dead tired, but Xander had stayed behind with Faith. He couldn't bring himself to leave, in fear that if he did something horrible would happen. Hospitals had become too familiar to Xander in the time that he and Willow had befriended Buffy. From having to see Willow in a coma to Buffy drained of blood because of Angel, it never became any easier for him to handle. He had always been able to hold together, to go out and help on the field, but with Dawn it seemed different. His heart ached seeing her innocent face bruised and battered, the fang marks in her neck that had nearly been her death and the cast on her arm that lay gingerly over her stomach. Xander had seen all these things before, on his friends and himself, but seeing them on Dawn made them seem more real. The fact that Angelus had caused this seemed to further the pain on Xander's heart. Xander couldn't understand why he felt this way. He had become almost accustomed to death over the years, almost because one could ever be accustomed to such a thing, but when Dawn had died briefly he felt more despair than he thought possible. 

   He remembered Buffy's death then, both of them. He remembered how the first time she died he'd been able to bring her back, be the hero who saved her. The second time had been different. Buffy had not been grateful, she had changed, he had torn her from heaven. He remembered when Angelus had kidnapped Giles as they tried to bring Angel's soul back and how Willow had ended up in a coma. He remembered being there for Joyce's death, waiting for the autopsy. He had been there after Buffy had been shot, had been by her side as the doctors struggled to keep her alive. The despair of all those times amounted inside him to how he felt now. He hadn't been able to help Dawn this time, protect her from what had happened. Buffy had trusted him to be her keeper. To keep her out of trouble, but instead he had let Faith take her out to help find Angelus, he had nearly had her killed. He had sent the one person he was supposed to keep _out of danger into the heart of it._

    Dawn's features were light and innocent. She looked peaceful but Xander knew that was just the sedatives, she had been thrown into a dreamless sleep. Foggy eyed, Xander tried to keep the tears from falling as he reached to Dawn's hand and grasped it. He and Dawn were mere mortals. They didn't have special healing powers, they weren't demons or Vampires, or Slayers and neither had the kind of power Willow had.  They were alone, out of the spotlight as he had put it, kindred souls trying to help the slayer any way they could and yet when the big fight came down he knew that the slayer would do all she could to keep them miles away from the danger. Sure, he was her strength, her white knight, but she would not let him fight by her side in fear that he would die. He and Dawn understood each other, their life in the shadows, their desperation to be allowed in the fight and their fear that Buffy _would allow them to fight. The love he felt for Dawn was indescribable. _

"Don't be so hard on yourself," the tired voice startled Xander. He looked up to Faith, sitting up in her chair, yawning. Xander started at her and wondered how long she had been awake. The words reverberated in his head and for a second he wondered if Faith could read his mind. "It's not your fault, we've went over that." 

"I know," Xander muttered, "I-I just can't lose her Faith. We-we've just lost so many already, we can't lose her. Buffy...she'd..." 

"B would pull a fit," Faith shrugged, "What else is new?" 

"You don't understand Faith," Xander accused, "Buffy, she sacrificed her life so that Dawn could live, and have a life." 

"I understand that Xander," Faith said, "I understand what's going on and how I'm not really going to be welcomed with open arms back in Sunnydale, especially not after this, and if Dawn had died I-I don't know what I'd have done." 

"Dawn has that affect on people huh?" Xander sighed as he moved to sit on the bed and brushed some of Dawn's brown hair away from her face, "What you told me before, about that bond you and Dawn have, I think I have something like it." 

"Hell Yeah," Faith nodded and looked Dawn over a minute, "Damn, B really doesn't know what she's got."  

"I think she might," Xander sighed, "But not really like we do." Xander smiled faintly at the rogue slayer and leaned over and kissed Dawn's forehead. They sat in silence a while and Xander's stomach rumbled. "I'm going to get something to eat," he announced, "Want something?" 

"Whatever," Faith shrugged. Xander nodded and left the room, hesitating a moment before closing the door behind him. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

_(Meanwhile, at the Summers' home in Sunnydale.) _

    Buffy paced, the sunrays illuminating her petite features. Ever few seconds the blonde slayer would glance at the phone then out the window. It was taking too long. She hadn't heard from Willow, Xander or even Spike since they had sprung Faith from jail and she was worried. It might've helped if the night before Sunnydale hadn't been so dead. A fight might've taken her mind off of the Angelus problems, but there hadn't been a Vampire in sight, not even a Bringer had attacked. Something didn't feel right. 

    Brushing Anya and Andrew off once again as they entered the living room asking if there was any news Buffy finally picked up the phone and dialled Angel's number at the hotel slowly. Letting it ring once she hung up, trying to convince that everything was alright and it was better not to worry the others with her call. The phone rang seconds later and Buffy quickly answered it, "Hello?"

_"Uh, Buffy did you just call here?" __Willow__'s voice sounded strained and tired. _

"Yeah," Buffy sighed, relieved to hear Willow's voice not even noting her friend's tone. 

_"Is something wrong?" The witch asked, panicked. _

"No," Buffy replied, "I was just wondering how things were going over there. I mean, is Angel back yet?" 

_"Uh...yeah," __Willow__'s voice faltered slightly, "He's...uh...in his room resting..."_

"Wills, is everything alright there?" Buffy had picked up on her friend's tone and despair surged through her again. 

_"Well, we might be delayed here a little longer," Willow responded, "Something kind of happened and we won't make it back tonight." _

"What happened?" Buffy asked a number of horrible thoughts of what might've happened raced through her mind, "When will you be back?" 

_"I don't know when we'll make it back," __Willow__ admitted, "Hopefully soon. If...if anything happens over there we'll...well if anything happens with the First in Sunnydale Spike and I'll come back....just...just don't worry Buffy." _

"Willow, what happened?" Buffy repeated her first questioned and looked up to see Giles, Andrew, Anya and some potentials gathering in the room. Kennedy had rushed over to Buffy, her eyes begging to here that Willow was alright. Giles stood on the other side of her watching intently as Anya was nearly pressing her ear to the phone to here. The others kept their distance, not wanting to intrude on the conversation. 

_"We don't want to worry you," __Willow__ explained, "Just keep focused on battling the First. We'll take care of everything here." _

"Willow..." Buffy pressed but her friend cut her off. 

_"I'm sorry Buffy," __Willow__ choked, "I...I got to go..." The line went dead. _

 Buffy slammed the receiver down on the end table and turned to the troubled looks of her friends and potentials. They all waited for her to speak, to explain her troubled expression and about the conversations with the troops sent to LA. They all remained silent waiting for her to speak but soon Kennedy grew inpatient. "What did Willow say?" she demanded. 

"Angel's back but they're not coming home yet," Buffy muttered, "Something's wrong." 

"Is Xander all right?" Anya wanted to know, "I mean, is he dead?" 

"I...I don't know," Buffy struggled to remain strong. Her sister, her best friends, her fellow slayer, and Spike were in LA and something bad had happened. From what she could tell Spike and Willow were okay, but what about Faith, Dawn and Xander? Had something happened to them? She looked around to room once again. The potentials all stared wide-eyed at her, Kennedy stood staring witheringly at the telephone as if it was its fault, and Anya hugged herself and Giles had placed a hand on her shoulder. 

"I'm sure they'll be alright," the Watcher tried to assure her. 

"I don't know Giles," Buffy turned to face him, "I just don't know." 

~*~*~*~*~*~

_(At Dawn's hospital room in LA.) _

Dawn groaned. Those damn sedatives. She remembered waking up from her coma to the full room, remembered the look Faith had given her right before she left, remembered the doctors standing over her, remembered the visions of Angelus' torture and lastly the needle releasing the sedatives into her blood and then it had been all black. Luckily being sedated meant no dreams, no flashbacks from the horrid night she had endured. Horrid, even that word was not a strong enough to define what she had been through. Slowly Dawn became fully aware of everything, her body, her cast and bandages, the pain. Pain that she wished would go away, disappear. Using her good arm, Dawn tried to lift herself into a sitting position but winced as a sharp pain ran through her upper body.  "Damn broken ribs," she heard a voice from beside her mutter, "Hurts like a bitch doesn't it?"

"Yeah," Dawn agreed turning her head to find Faith sitting in the corner of the room, leaning back in a chair, watching her. 

"How you doing?" Faith asked, leaning forward from the shadows. 

"Sure as hell not Five by Five," Dawn responded smiling weakly at the slayer, "Where's Angel?" 

"Home," Faith replied, "Sun's up already, been a couple hours that Gunn came got him and Spike." 

"I remember seeing him," Dawn murmured, "When I was dead. Is he alright?" 

"No better than you," Faith sighed. 

"Sure," Dawn laughed bitterly, "He's not in a hospital bed." 

   There it was again. That haunted look. It had reappeared on Dawn's face as soon as she had mentioned Angel. Faith looked at her fellow slayer's little sister guiltily and thought of Buffy herself. She remembered that feeling of revenge that had surged through her when she woke up from her coma. What was going through Dawn's mind right now? Was she thinking about what revenge she would bring upon Angel? Faith watched her closely. She showed no signs of anger, all that was there was pain. Dawn wasn't thinking about revenge right now, Faith realized this; Dawn was still trying to overcome her demons. Demons that Angelus had put into her head, or maybe they had already been there, whatever these demons were. "Dawnie," Faith's voice softened, "What happening in that building with Angelus?" 

"I..." Darkness crossed over Dawn's face, "No, I can't go back there, no..." 

"I want to help," Faith offered. 

"No," Dawn repeated, "No, no, no. You can't help. No one can help." 

"Let me try," Faith put in, "What did Angelus tell you?" 

"Go away!" Dawn exclaimed, tears filling her eyes once more, "Go! I'm not going to go back!" Faith took a deep breath as the door to the room opened and a nurse entered. 

"I see your awake," she said cheerily, "Sorry Ms. Summers, but you'll have to leave you sister for a while. She can't get too riled up." Faith nodded and stood, leaving the room. The nurse came into the room, checked Dawn's vital stats and left, left Dawn alone. 

   It was dark. The blinds on the window had been shut as were the lights. Dawn almost wished Faith was still here. Fear engulfed her as she felt her heart in her throat. Flashes of Angelus hitting her, sinking his teeth into her neck came to her and Dawn's hand whipped to where the bandages on her neck were. Tears were now streaming down her face as his words echoed in her brain. _You were the reason Buffy wasn't there. The reason they had to mourn. The reason __Tara_ almost died. You hurt them. _"No!" Dawn echoed her words from earlier that night. _Yes, you've caused them all pain. They hate you. They all do. _"No, no, no," Dawn sobbed harder, "No, you're wrong." _

"No Dawnie, I'm very, very right," the voice was no longer in her head, but in the room and Dawn looked up, up right into the eyes of Angelus grinning evilly down at her. 

"You're not Angelus," Dawn murmured closing her eyes tightly and then consoled herself, "It's not Angelus, it's not Angelus." 

"Aw, come on Dawnie," Angelus, the First, cackled, "Let's have a little fun!" 

"You're not Angelus," she continued to chat blocking her ears and shaking her head profusely, "You're not Angelus." 

_You've been a bad girl for a very long time. _

   The words were in her head again, and Dawn squeezed her eyes shut tighter trying to chase the voice away, cover it up with happy memories. Like the time Xander had babysat her when Joyce was working and Buffy patrolling, they had played a board game, Monopoly, and she had won. Xander had made her laugh a lot that night, cracking jokes incessantly. The voice didn't dissipate though. It echoed through her memory. She tried another memory, one where Faith had come into her room late one night, the first time that she had snuck in, she had helped Dawn climb out the window and headed to where Faith was supposed to patrol that night. Faith had fought and then let her stake the first Vampire they came across that night, Dawn's first Vampire, and Dawn knew that eventually she'd be able to fight one on her own. The voice only became louder as Dawn remembered through. 

_You hid things from Buffy about Faith. You knew she was meeting the mayor. She told you everything. You could've stopped her. Prevented all_ _the horrible things she had done to Buffy and the others, to Angel. When Faith was out of her coma, after she came to visit, you could've told Buffy. Then when she told you she was going to get back at Buffy, switch bodies. You wanted her to, didn't you? You wanted Faith to be Buffy, your sister? You wanted Buffy to rot away in jail in Faith's place didn't you Dawn? _

"You're not Angelus," Dawn muttered aloud, "You can't make me believe you are. You're the First. You're the First. You're not Angelus. Go away. Leave me alone." 

"I can't fool you" the voice was aloud again and had changed and Dawn dared to open her eyes. Angelus was gone, morphed into the form of Buffy 

"Go away!" Dawn hissed at the figure, "Go away! Go back where you came from!" 

"I can't," The first shook its head, "You're the reason I'm here. You killed me. If you had never come here I wouldn't have had to die, to be resurrected. Look at all that you've done." 

"You're not real," Dawn quivered, "You can't hurt me." 

"Oh, but I can," It smirked, "In more ways that you can imagine. Just think of how much better the world would be if you had never existed. Buffy would never have died again, Tara wouldn't have gotten her brains sucked out and nearly died and all the bad things that followed wouldn't have happened. You hurt everything you touch. Even our mother." 

"Shut up," Dawn whispered fiercely at the image of her sister, "Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Dawn's face sparkled with tears and she choked on her sobs as the image of Buffy in a flash was gone and her mother stood in her place. Dawn's eyes widened at the image of Joyce. "NO!" she yelled despite the pain that ran through her like knives, "YOU CAN'T USE HER! YOU CAN'T BE HER!" She threw a pillow towards the figure but it sailed through. The door to her room swung open, a panicked Xander stood next to Faith. Dawn pointed to where the First had stood in the form of Joyce, but it was already gone. 

_I wish you had never exited. _

The words spoken in Joyce's voice rang through her head as she melted into her bed and cried, the pain overpowering her. Xander had rushed over to her side and carefully pulled her into an embrace. Faith stood at the door in fighter's stance and looked about, ready to pounce on whatever had made Dawn cry and yell but the room was empty beside the three of them and Faith knew instantly what had been here. The First. She stepped out of the room leaving Xander to comfort Dawn and headed to the Pay Phones. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_(The Hyperion Hotel, __Los Angeles__.) _

    Willow was seated on a couch next to Spike. She hugged one of her knees as tears streamed down her cheeks freely. She did nothing to prevent them. She had to cry, wanted to cry. She had gotten off the phone with Buffy not long ago, pained by the fact that she could not bring herself to tell the slayer, her best friend, that her sister was in the hospital. The white-blonde haired Vampire next to her looked just as stricken as she. Willow knew how protective Spike was of Dawn. She also knew that Dawn wasn't a defenceless child anymore. Everyone tried to protect her from the world, shield her from evil and Willow realized that they had only pushed her closer towards it. Maybe, just maybe if they had let her help out more often then just telling her that she was too young, maybe things would've been different, maybe Dawn wouldn't have been so curious about the evil of the world. Maybe, if Buffy had just been a little less protective, let her help out more than with bed arrangement and research Dawn wouldn't have wanted to come to LA with them, wouldn't have been lying in a hospital bed on the verge of death beaten and battered because of Angelus. Of course, Xander had told her that if Dawn wouldn't have come with them Faith would not have broken out of jail and they would not have asked her to. 

    The loud ringing of the telephone echoed through the quiet hotel and Willow could not bring herself to get up to answer it. After all, this was not her home. Angel and the others worked here, lived here, and it was not her place to answer their phone. Also, she dreaded that it might be Buffy again, demanding that Willow tell her what was wrong. After a while the ringing stopped and Willow thought that the person might've hung up. Then she realized Fred had managed to retrieve the phone and was handing it over to her. Willow shook her head profusely and nodded over to Spike. Fred sadly held the phone out to Spike but before the Vampire could answer it Willow decided she would talk to whoever it was on the other line. It could be Faith with news on Dawn. The Vampire cursed her under his breath as he sat back to listen to Willow's end of the conversation as the titian haired witch pressed the receiver to her ear.  "Hello?" she asked the phone. 

_"We need to get her out."_ It was Faith. 

"Dawn?" Willow questioned knowing very well that it was Dawn Faith was speaking of, "Why?" 

_"The damn First showed up," Faith explained, "Xander and I were not there in the room. The kid's hysterical."  _

"Do you know anymore of what Angelus told her?" Willow wondered, "I mean if the First is showing up it must be in his form and torturing her he same way Angelus did." 

_"She wouldn't tell me," Faith informed, "All I know is we need to get her out before the doctors decide she's insane. B won't be any happier if Dawn gets locked up in the loony bin." _

"How are we going to get her out?" Willow wondered, "She's hooked up to all those machines and she's lost a lot of blood..." 

_"I don't know," Faith replied, "Talk to that Gunn guy and see what he thinks. We can't take her back to Sunnydale but at least to the hotel."     _

"Alright," Willow nodded to herself. 

_"And Red, see if Angel will tell you what happened," Faith added before she hung up._

  Willow hung up the phone right after Faith did and noticed Spike was watching her expectantly. Willow ignored him for the time being and went looked over to Fred who was still looming near-by. "Where's Gunn?" she asked. 

"I think he's in the basement with Conner and Wesley dismantling Angelus' cage," Fred replied. Willow smiled appreciatively at Fred and walked towards the Basement. 

Spike was right behind her. "The bloody First visited the Niblet?" he coaxed. 

"Yes," Willow nodded, "And Faith wants us to help get Dawn out of there before they locked her up in an insane asylum for seeing things." They Willow raced down the stairs and came in sight of Conner, Wesley and Gunn in the far corner of the basement carefully placing the dismantled pieces of the cage on the floor. Wesley was the first one to notice her and Spike. 

"Any news on Dawn?" he wondered. Willow nodded.

"The First visited her when Xander and Faith weren't in the room," Willow told them. Conner and Gunn just took in the news unsure of what to make of this, Wesley on the other hand cursed under his breath. Willow continued after a moment, "Dawn's hysterical and Faith wants us to try and sneak her out before they lock her up for seeing things. She told me to come to Gunn, ask if he had any ideas." 

"I'll do what I can," Gunn acknowledged. Willow nodded and turned to Spike who was seemed to be sniffing around. 

"Bloody Hell," The Vampire cursed, "There's a bloody dead body in here." 

"That's Lilah," Fred said from behind them, "She's this evil lawyer from Wolfram and Hart, Evil Cordelia killed her." 

"Mind if I 'ave a taste?" Spike wondered, "Wouldn't want the blood to spoil." Wesley glared at the Vampire who approached Lilah's body in the opposite corner of the room. Spike didn't drink though; he was about to morph into his Vamp face when something in his peripheral vision caught his eye, a talisman type thing in Lilah's hand. Spike curiously moved over and pried it from the dead woman's hand. "What's this trinket?" he asked, directing the question towards the ex-watcher. 

"I-I had no idea she was even holding anything," Wesley admitted as he took the necklace talisman from Spike. Fred bounced over and looked at the thing over Wesley's shoulder. 

"It could be for some sort of ritual," She offered, "I've never seen anything like it before. What was Lilah doing with it though?" 

"No clue," Wesley muttered, "But I'm going to find out." He slinked towards the stairs not taking his eyes off of the talisman and began up, Fred followed close behind. Spike muttered something under his breath that Willow couldn't hear. 

"I'm gonna head over to the hospital," Gunn announced, "See how the place works."  Within seconds Gunn had also disappeared up the stairs. Willow, Conner and Spike were left alone in the basement and Willow remembered what else Faith had wanted her to do. She looked between Angel's son and grand-sire and sighed. Hopefully, if she left these two alone Conner wouldn't end up staking Spike. She saw the look of extreme hatred in Conner's eyes as he stared towards Spike. 

"I've got to go see Angel," she finally said, "Spike, if you get staked things won't be any better for us, so play nice. Conner, Buffy kind of relies on Spike for help and well, things aren't looking good for us right now, so if it can be avoided don't stake Spike." 

"I can't promise anything," Conner growled, not taking his eyes off the white-blonde haired Vamp. Willow sighed and hesitated a moment before leaving them alone in the basement. It wouldn't be a big deal for her if Spike was staked, but Buffy needed Spike for some reason or another and Willow had to trust the Slayer's judgement. 

   Willow made her way through the hotel walking towards where she had been told was Angel's room. The window's all had curtains over them to keep the sunlight out and the beautiful hotel was dark and shadowed, perfect for a Vampire. Willow remembered Angel's mansion, the lonely, gloominess of it all and was glad that Angel seemed to have his friends near-by now, that he was not alone. She reached the door to Angel's room in the large hotel and listened for noise inside, she heard the faint voices of Cordelia Chase and Angel conversing inside and Willow paused a moment before knocking lightly on the door. 

     Seconds after the knock the door opened slowly revealing Cordy to her who smiled slightly before opening the door the rest of the way to let Willow into the room. Willow entered and immediately saw Angel; he was sitting in the corner of the room a tortured expression covering his features. Willow felt a pang in her heart upon seeing Angel this way and quietly followed Cordelia over to where Angel was. He looked worse than before, that was the first thing Willow noted when she came in full view of Angel's face and she wondered if the First had visited Angel as well since or before its visit to Dawn. "Angel," she whispered, kneeling beside the Vampire, "The doctors say that Dawn's going to be fine." 

"She won't be," Angel said simply, "They don't know anything." 

"She's awake now," Willow informed, "A little shaken up due to a visit from the first but she's awake." 

"It'll keep coming," Angel muttered, "It won't stop until she's dead." 

"Angelus is gone," Cordelia was next to Willow now, "He's inside of you but he's gone. He can't hurt Dawn anymore." 

"Not Angelus," Angel told them, "It wants her dead." 

"The First?" Willow inquired. 

"Yes," Angel nodded, "It wants Dawn dead." 

"Why?" Willow wanted to know. 

"I-I don't know," Angel admitted. Willow tucked a strand of her red hair behind her ear contemplating what Angel had just told her. She didn't understand why the First would want Dawn dead, what it could possibly gain from killing the sister of the slayer. Dawn had once been The Key to the Universe but Buffy had sacrificed herself so Dawn could be normal. Why was the First suddenly so interested in Dawn? Cordelia was now talking to Angel, trying to coax him to leave the room and see the others. Willow didn't hear Angel's response; she was too deeply buried in her thoughts. 

Finally, she spoke again, "Angel, Faith wanted me to ask you what happened with Angelus and Dawn." 

"I can't tell you," Angel seemed to try to slip further into the corner at Willow's question. 

"Angel, we need to know," it was Cordelia who spoke now, "If this First person is trying to kill Dawn and can take form of any dead person it's probably using what Angelus said against her. We need to know if we're going to help Dawn." 

"Please Angel," Willow added after Cordelia was done. Angel looked between the two women and shook his head. 

"Angel, Gunn and Faith are working together with Xander to get Dawn out of the hospital," Willow enlightened, "They need to get Dawn out before another visit from the First happens and the doctors decide she's crazy. They're going to bring her here. If the First shows up we need to know what to say to Dawn to convince her it's not true." 

"It won't only come as me," Angel said, "It'll come as Buffy and Dawn like it came to me. I-I can't tell you what Angelus said, it'll bring him too close to the surface and I don't want to feel what he did to her anymore than I already do. I won't do it." 

   Willow didn't know what else to say. She saw the look on Angel's face and knew she better not press the issue. She got up and headed towards the door, Cordelia lingered behind with Angel, her eyes pleading with him to get up. Finally, Angel did so and he and Cordelia followed Willow into the lobby where Lorne was talking with Fred and Wesley, Spike and Conner appeared from the basement stairs, both not speaking. Willow examined each of Angel's LA crew, excluding Gunn, as they looked up at Angel descending the stairs. Angel was not looking at them though, he was looking at Spike. 

"What've you guys got on the trinket Spike found in Lilah's hand?" Willow asked, ignoring Angel and Spike. 

"Nothing as of yet," Wesley admitted. Angel's gaze had shifted away from Spike as he made his way over to Wesley and looked at what he was holding. 

"I bet Wolfram and Hart would know," he stated simply, sounding like the old Angel for the first time since his soul was returned. 

"We can't exactly just barge in and demand to know what it is," Cordelia pointed out, "And anyway, didn't the Beast destroy the Wolfram and Hart offices?" 

"Yeah, and Lilah was the only one who survived apparently," Fred replied. 

"And my evil self had to go and kill her," Cordelia muttered, "Just great. Maybe there's something at the books at my apartment. Plus I think I better check in and pay the rent seeing as I was missing for the past few months." 

"Need any company?" Willow wondered. 

"Sure," Cordelia smiled. Willow followed Cordelia out of the hotel and into the street of LA as they headed towards Cordelia apartment. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

_(At the Hospital, In Dawn's room.)_

  Dawn has quieted down slightly since her outburst earlier but she wouldn't let Xander leave her alone in the room. She clung to him, forgetting about the all the tubes and wires that were attached to her and cried. Xander's shirt was stained with her tears but he did not mind. At least she was awake. He smoothed his hand over her hair and down her back trying to comfort her, trying to tell her it was all going to be alright. Truth was, he didn't know that. Faith had returned to the room but left seconds ago with Gunn to examine the hospital's staff and their observance of the rooms, specifically Dawn's. Faith had told him the plan and Xander was all for it. Dawn needed to get out of here, this hospital. 

  Something seemed to have startled Dawn even more and her sobs grew louder, Xander glanced around the room quickly but remembered that the First could appear to whomever it liked and everyone else in the room would be oblivious to its presence. "Shh, Dawn," he whispered into her ear, rocking her in his arms, "It'll be alright. I'm here. I'll take care of you, I promise." 

"Xander," Dawn moaned, "Xander make it stop. Make it go away." 

"You have to tell me what Dawn," Xander told her, "What is it?" 

"The First," Dawn groaned, "Xander make it leave. It keeps coming back and making me remember. I don't want to remember." 

"Is it here Dawn?" Xander asked, "Is it here now?" 

"Yes," Dawn gulped, "It's here, just make it go away!" Dawn buried her head into Xander's chest. Her shoulder's shaking violently and he felt her warm tears seep through his shirt. Xander wrapped both arms around the teen and held her tightly to him.

"Dawnie, I promise you that I won't let it hurt you," Xander assured her, "I promise you Dawn, I promise you I will protect you." 

_Just like you protected me from Angelus?_

  The voice was in his head first, Dawns' calm voice and then it became more real; echoing throughout the room until 'Dawn' was standing right there in front of the bed, smirking. Xander's grip on Dawn tightened and this gesture seemed only to amuse the First more. "Come on Xander," it chuckled, "You can't protect me. You couldn't protect me from Glory, or Angelus. How are you supposed to protect her from the First? You can't even protect yourself. Whenever you're in trouble you run to your little slayer and hide behind her until she kills whatever it is that was chasing you." 

"XANDER!" he heard Dawn's muffled shriek and he wondered if she was hearing this or remembering Angelus' torture. He ignored the first standing there and focused on Dawn, focused on comforting her. 

"Dawn, don't listen to what it says," he ordered, "It's not true whatever it's saying it's a lie. Don't listen Dawn."

"But you don't even know what it's telling me," the First, in Dawn's form, reminded him, "You don't even know what Angelus told me. You can't help me, you can't help yourself and you certainly can't help Buffy. In the end, even if Buffy and those stupid potentials manage to survive and get rid of me, I'll be dead and you'll be dead. Even if Buffy lets us help, lets us into the fight, even at what she thinks is the safest area we're going to die. The potentials couldn't fight the Tuork-Ahn; you think we even have a chance. We're as good as dead."  

   Dawn whimpered again from deep within his grasp and Xander tried still to block the first out. He knew what it was saying was likely true but he wouldn't put it into his head that it was right. He had to be strong. He had to know recognize reality from the evil and he had the real Dawn right here in his arms. He wasn't going to listen to the being of evil; he had to keep his mind focused on the positive. "Hey, Dawn, remember that time when Buffy was out patrolling and your mom was at the art gallery working, you had just moved to Sunnydale and Willow and I got roped into babysitting?" Xander encountered, he felt Dawn nod from in his grasp and he continued, "You didn't know that Buffy was the slayer then so Wills and I had to use code when we talked about slaying. You were so bored, sitting around watching television and refusing to go to sleep until your mom got home. Then, Willow got had to go home because her parents had called and we were left all alone. You had jumped onto the couch next to me and said 'Xander, wanna get married?' I laughed and said you were too young but you insisted that you weren't and leaned over and gave me a kiss." 

   The First was still there and watched them amusedly; he could feel what it was thinking. Thinking how lame they were trying to block it out with memories. It seemed to work though because Dawn sat up in her bed, hardly seeing the first nearby and managed a small smile. "A-And then Buffy got home," she hiccupped, "And y-you pretended that nothing happened. When Buffy tried to get me to bed I told her you had to tuck me in because we were going to get married one day. F-from then on I followed you around the house every time you came to visit." 

"Too bad they're not real memories," the First had taken Glory's form then, "I mean, you're not even a real person remember. The Monks made you into the slayer's little sister pre-packed with memories and everything to keep you away from me." 

"Dawn, those memories are as real as you and me," Xander promised, "You aren't the Key. You're Dawn Summers, sister of Buffy Summers and daughter of Hank and Joyce Summers." 

"Xander, keep remembering," Dawn coaxed, "Keep remembering the good times, please." 

"Alright," Xander nodded, "There was this one time, you probably don't remember, but it was the day you and Buffy moved here with Joyce. The moving trucks were moving everything in and Buffy was apparently inside helping Joyce because I didn't see her then. I only saw her on her first day at good old Sunnydale High. Anyway, you were sitting outside on the steps, head in hands, pouting the way only you could pout. I was passing by, just walking through going to visit Jesse and Willow. I was looking at the house wondering who was moving in and I spotted you. You looked up and for just a second we caught each other's gazes. I knew right away you were someone special." 

"I don't remember that," Dawn mused, she had calmed down quite a bit and now the tears had stopped streaming and her breaths were evening out, "I remember moving in, but I don't remember seeing you there that day." 

"I do," Xander smiled, "I remember clear as day that pouty little face, because you still have it down pat, and your big blue wide eyes, unknowing of what evil crept through the night, staring right into mine from down the driveway. Right then Dawn, I loved everything about you." 

"You didn't even know who I was," Dawn pointed out, mesmerized by Xander's story. For a moment her pain and sadness was shut out as she watched Xander crack a grin and pull her frail body closer to his. 

"I know," he whispered into her ear and Dawn could no longer see him, her head leaning against his shoulder, "But there was something in your eyes and movements that told me everything about you. I know it sounds corny, but that's how I felt." Dawn smiled and rested her eyes. Xander kissed her forehead and rested his head against hers. He knew that if the doctors or nurses entered the room he would be in trouble for being on the bed and allowing Dawn to be as she was. She was no longer feeling the pain because of the pain killers that had been given to her but her body was banged up and she was supposed to be resting. Xander didn't care though. He had to take care of her, protect her, and right now this was the only way he knew how. 

    There was a knock on the door as it slowly opened and Faith entered. Xander looked up into the dark haired slayer's eyes and knew it was time to get Dawn out of here. "Dawnie, you still feeling okay?" he questioned, "The pain still dulled?" 

"Yeah," Dawn quietly said, nodding and looking up over to Faith. 

"Alright, we're going to get you out of here," he announced, "We're taking you to the hotel. Then, when you're well enough we're going home." 

"The First show up again?" Faith wondered. Sadly Xander nodded remembering the First's words to him. "Damn," Faith breathed, "Gunn's got the car ready outside and we convinced one of the nurses to help us out. She's a friend of Gunn's." 

"Alright," Xander nodded. Faith wheeled in a wheel chair and they placed Dawn carefully into it. Xander took charge in wheeling Dawn in the wheel chair and carefully followed Faith's every movement. They met a nurse near the entrance who got Faith to sign some papers before she exited the hospital and flirted with the buff guard out front, making sure he was facing away from where Xander and Dawn were to escape. When Faith gave him the go ahead Xander quickly ushered Dawn's wheel chair to the van that Gunn was waiting beside. The two men carefully lifted Dawn into the passenger's seat making sure to take care around the ribs. Once Dawn was in Xander climbed in beside her and Gunn shoved the folded wheel chair into the van. Getting into the driver's seat Gunn directed the car towards where Faith waited the door on the side open. The slayer jumped into the van and closed the door as Gunn continued in the direction of the Hyperion hotel. 

They had done it, Dawn was out and safe. For now. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

_(Cordelia's apartment, __Los Angeles__.) _

   Cordelia and Willow entered Cordelia's apartment a little later and Cordelia had taken a deep breath of the stale air in the apartment. All the windows were closed and Dennis, being a ghost, hadn't needed to open any of them. Cordelia quickly went around the apartment opening a few windows to let the fresh air in. "Dennis?" she called out, looking for her roommate. Willow frowned confusedly at Cordelia. 

"I thought you lived alone," she stated. 

"I do," Cordelia assured her, a slam of something coming from the kitchen indicated that Dennis had heard her, "Well, mostly. Dennis lives here too, he's a ghost." 

"Oh," Willow nodded in understanding, "I'm guessing that was him in the kitchen?" 

"Yeah," Cordelia nodded, "Gets a bit temperamental sometimes."  There was another loud bang and Cordelia winced. "Sorry Dennis," she called out into the apartment. The light flashed on. Dennis was in the room now. "This is Willow," Cordelia introduced, "She's a friends from back home in Sunnydale. We're here to get some books for Wesley; we're looking for information on a Talisman necklace thing we found." Two books sailed over from the bookshelf. Cordelia took one from the air and Dennis handed the other to Willow.

"Thanks," the witch muttered, flipping open the cover of the book and looking through it. 

"Sorry I haven't been around," Cordelia mentioned to Dennis, "I kind of ascended for a while, worked to control my powers." The sound of grinding coffee beans from the kitchen let Cordelia know that Dennis was happy for her to be home and also that he knew they were in for quite a time researching. Cordelia sighed and sat down on the coach, Willow joined her moment later reading through some text in the book Dennis had given her. 

"Well, this is not it," Willow announced slamming the book shut, "And that's was the only thing that resembled what we were looking for." 

"I've got nothing yet," Cordelia sighed, flipping another page and a picture popped out at here, "Wait, I think there's something." Willow peeped over her shoulder. 

"That's it!" She exclaimed and read the sentences under the picture, her eyes widened, "Oh my goddess," the witch murmured. 

"We better get his back to the hotel," Cordelia shared the awe tone that Willow had. The two grabbed what they needed and called their goodbyes to Dennis before heading to the hotel as quickly as possible. They had big news. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

_(The Hyperion Hotel, __Los Angeles__.) _

    The door to the Hyperion swung open. Angel and Spike immediately stepped away from the light that poured in. Books were scattered all around the group and the Talisman was placed in the middle so they could all see. Gun followed by Faith, Xander and Dawn in a wheel chair entered the hotel and quickly shut the door behind them. Faith looked around, amusedly, at the gang doing the research and cracked, "Honey, I'm home." 

"Where's Willow?" Dawn wondered, looking at each one present in the room, but as he gaze fell on Angel she quickly looked down at the cast on her arm and shuddered remembering how easily it had broken under the Vampire's wrath. 

"She went out with Cordy," Fred informed, "They should be back soon." The shy girl had joined them at the door and smiled sympathetically down at the teen. She had known fear. Fred had leaved fear every day when she had been transported to Plea. She didn't know what it was like to be tortured by someone you trusted, but she knew fear. She could hardly imagine having Angelus do to her what he did to Dawn. 

"Okay," the girl nodded, not taking her eyes off the cast on her arm. 

"We should probably get her to a room," Xander suggested, "Before the pain killers ware off. She's not supposed to be out of bed." 

"Oh, I can take you to one she can use," Fred volunteered. Xander looked to Faith a second; both knowing that they couldn't very well carry the wheel chair all the safely with Dawn in it and they had to be wary of Dawn's broken ribs. 

"Xander, lock the wheels," Faith ordered, coming up with a plan. Xander followed instruction and leaned over, locking the wheelchair's wheels. "Alright," Faith declared once he had finished, "You take one wheel and the arm rest, I'll get the other." 

"Be careful," Xander instructed and the dark haired slayer rolled her eyes at the comment taking her side of the chair. Slowly the two followed Fred up the stairs with the wheel chair as Dawn groaned, informing them that the pain was returning. Pain more excruciating than when she had woken up, her legs, her ribs, her arm, her neck, it all ached. 

   They reached the top soon enough and Fred opened a door to one of the rooms closest to the stairs. They brought Dawn in and carefully helped her into the bed. They drew the curtains open, Dawn not wanting to be in the dark, and watched the dust rise in the rays of light. Xander took a seat in the empty wheel chair and Faith at the end of the bed. Fred left the three alone understanding that this was something she was not a part of. She closed the room door behind her and rejoined the group downstairs. 

   Back downstairs Willow and Cordelia had entered the hotel in a frenzy slamming the book they had discovered the talisman in down in front of Wesley. Angel took this moment to retreat back to his room and Spike slunk forward to see what the two women had discovered. The musty old smell of the book wafted through the air and for the first time, Cordelia and Willow became aware of it and stepped back. "Wow, good thing I never opened this before now," Cordelia put in. 

"Interesting," Wesley said as he read the text, "According to this, this might be exactly what you need in Sunnydale to trap the first, or destroy it." 

"What was Lilah doing with it then?" Gunn wondered, picking the Talisman up. 

"How does it work though?" Willow jumped in, overlapping her question with Gunn's. Spike remained silent, just watching. Wesley looked from Gunn to Willow, unsure of what either had said. They words had meshed together to sound like some foreign demon language that no one could understand. 

"One at a time, please," he begged. 

"Sorry," Willow blushed, looking down at her feet. 

"Go ahead," Gunn offered the red head as he placed the talisman back down. 

"How does it work?" Willow repeated, her eyes were now focused solely on the object the dead woman had clutched nearly a half hour ago in her hand. She could almost feel the power emanating from it, but she refused to tap into such power afraid of how it could affect her. Wesley seemed to catch onto this look and quickly began to explain the talisman's function.

"It isn't said where it originated or who created it," Wesley explained, "But it does say that it can be used by a souled creature, a champion and the slayer. When used it can trap the First in another dimension where it can do no harm, or destroy it completely. It is apparently very dangerous though. It doesn't exactly say how one goes about using it though." 

"Can it be any souled creature?" Cordelia wondered, "Or a Vampire with a soul?" 

"It said Champion as well Cordelia," Wesley pointed out, "Angel is both a souled Vampire and a Champion." 

"B ain't going to be Ms. Sunshine about that," Faith had crept into the room at some point and was standing on the stairs observing them. 

"Well, it doesn't look like anyone else can do it," Wesley sighed, looking over the text in the book once again. 

"How 'bout me?" Spike wondered, speaking up, "I'm not a bloody champion, but I got the soul." 

"It could work," Willow shrugged, "I mean Spike could be considered a Champion with the amount of times he's tried to save the world, with and without soul. And I think Buffy will be depending on Angel as a second front. If anything happens to her she'll need hi to be there."

"I still don't know if I'd trust surfer Vamp over there," Faith shrugged, plucking the Talisman from the table, "I mean, didn't the First use him to do its dirty work?"

"The First doesn't control me slayer," Spike growled. 

"Hey, just making a point," Faith shrugged, open armed.

"I don't know." Willow chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully, "Faith does have a point. I mean, maybe it wouldn't be a good idea after all." 

"Look, I'm not the Slayer in charge," Faith replaced the talisman on the table and backed towards where the kitchen was located, "That's B. I'm just along for the ride." Faith ducked into the kitchen and left the six others behind. 

"I guess Buffy will decide when we get back," Willow shrugged, "I'm going to run up and tell Xander about what we found out and check on Dawnie." With that Willow raced up the hotel stairs, followed by Spike, and left the Fang Gang to reflect over all that was happening. 

_(After Sunset.) _

   Noise filled Dawn's ears as she slowly opened her eyes. The room was dark what little light that was left in the sky cast shadows through the room. Dawn groaned. She was alone. She could hear Faith and Xander among the mass of voices downstairs. The noise was faint and Dawn could only distinguish certain voices at certain times yet all their tones were the same, conspiratorial. Dawn's gaze flickered over to the light switch, knowing what pain would follow getting up out of bed. Yet, the mass of pain was better than having to endure however long it took Faith or Xander to return in the dark. 

   Slowly, Dawn managed to get herself into a sitting position, legs over the edge of her bed, the cold of the floor running up her legs and engulfing her body. Taking a deep breath, Dawn heaved herself off the bed with her good arm, flinching slightly at the pain that ensued. She took a second to center herself so she wouldn't tumble over with the unfamiliarity of standing up. Although it had been twenty-four hours since she had last stood, it seemed like longer, and the sprained ankle ached under the pressure of her body. One wobbly step after another Dawn got used to having to limp and the sharp pain that ran up and down her body with ever movement. At least she was not dead. Reaching the light switch Dawn triumphantly flicked it on and grinned with pride wanting to jump with joy, but she restrained herself, she was alone and if something happened to her no one was there to witness and take action. Turning around Dawn's grin faded as she realized she _wasn't alone after all. The image of her mother, Joyce Summers, stood grinning back at her. "Well look at you," it chuckled, "Getting better already. Haven't gotten the point have you?" _

Dawn's gritted her teeth angrily, "You can't use her!" 

"But I can," the First took a step towards Dawn and lifted her mother's hand to touch her cheek. Despite the knowledge that the First could not touch or hurt her Dawn stepped away. 

"You can't," Dawn hissed, her eyes trying to see through the First, trying to get it to dissolve, "Be someone else." 

    Her mother's face disappeared and Angelus' appeared, smirking as usual. His tall, dark form loomed in front of her exactly as it had just the night before. The spark of evil, of sheer pleasure in her pain was dancing in his brown eyes and Dawn flinched. This amused the First further as it took a step, filling the space between the two. Dawn's whole body tensed, aware of what had come next when it had been the _real Angelus, and although she knew that this one wouldn't hurt her or touch her Dawn's backed into the wall behind her, forgetting about her ankle as when she stepped she put her weight on her sprained ankle. Dawn winced and then her arm touched the knob, a door, she was leaning on a door. Almost certain that the door led to the outside hall Dawn stepped forward and swung the door opened. It was the bathroom, but nonetheless Dawn limped into it. The First followed. _

"You can't hide," the First chanted, Angelus' voice ringing in her ears, "I'll always find you, no matter what." 

"You're not real," Dawn whispered fiercely, "You can't hurt me." 

"Then why are you so afraid of me?" It wondered, its form coming closer and closer to her and Dawn shrunk again the bathroom wall, in a space between the sink and the toilet. "You know Dawnie there's only one way to get away," The First smiled wryly, "One way that I will never find you, it's the same way you can stop hurting everyone you love. All you have to do is go, take that razor blade in the cabinet and stop living. No one will miss you." 

"You're wrong," Dawn hissed, tears stinging her eyes, "Xander loves me. He loves me, he told me. And Faith." 

"Is that what you think?" the First shifted, becoming Buffy, "You think they really love you? You're the slayer's sister; they have to be nice to you. Have to make you feel loved. I don't know why, I don't even love you." Dawn tensed up. She watched her sister's lips move, heard Buffy's voice float around her, wrapping its words around her whole body and Dawn's eyes wavered to the cabinet above the sink. The Pain, the pain would go away if she did what it said. The physical and mental pain would be gone, forever. "That's it Dawnie," the First coaxed, reading her mind, "Think of all the good it would do. You would be gone and everyone will be happy."

  Dawn was hardly aware of her legs moving. She stood up and stared on the mirror that was the door to the cabinet. Her face scratched and bruised, stained with tears and her hair hanging just below her shoulders was a bushy mess. Her good arm reached towards the cabinet door and pulled it open. It was cluttered with old toiletries and Dawn caught sight of the blade. She reached to it and picked it up; her hands shook as she pulled it out and knocked the toilet paper holder down, hard, on the floor with a loud clang against the tiles. Her legs wobbled beneath her and she fell to the floor, kneeling down on the hard, cold floor. The cold seeped through the hospital dress she had been given and Dawn held her good arm out. The First still stood over her, whispering in the voices of her dead loved. 

_I Hate You. _

_  I wish you had never existed. _

_    It's your fault I had to die. _

_     I never loved you. _

Her Mother's voice came last as everyone else whispered their foul words. Joyce's voice was the loudest though. 

**_You aren't even my daughter. You're not real. You should never have existed._**

****

  Dawn squeezed her eyes shut, the tears slipping through and dripping down her cheek and she held the blade lightly against her skin. She opened her eyes and a single tear dripped onto her arm. Dawn's lower lip quivered and she pierced her skin with the corner of the blade; crimson blood appeared around its edges. Dawn Summers took a deep breath and stared at the perfect blade that she pressed against her skin. She exhaled and then inhaled once more as she prepared to die, prepared to drag the blade across her vein. Her muscles tensed and her senses became acutely aware of everything as her fingers slowly dragged the bade closer and closer to the knots of veins on her wrists a perfect line of crimson blood appeared and began to drip down her arm. Dawn stared at the blade as it moved and in one more tug the vein puncture her cluster of veins and she would wait for death. Dawn stopped a second, and the First's whispers became louder and louder, her grip tightened on the blade and the muscles in arms prepared to pull...

**_To Be Continued..._**


	6. Renegade Prt 2

**A New Breed of Slayer**

**A/N: **I've re-read the chapters of this story just to refresh my memory on everything that happens. I've made a few errors here and there, the more obvious in Chapter three putting Andrew instead of Anya when Buffy calls the Summers' residence in the grocery story. I'll get around to fixing that, I promise. Also, in the last chapter Faith says, "Look, I'm the slayer in charge." But really I meant her to say, "Look, I'm _not the slayer in charge." I have fixed that but I just wanted to make note of it here. Well, here's part two of the last chapter. Will Dawn die, or won't she? Let's find out...._

**Chapter 6 Renegade Prt.2**

    _Dawn stopped a second and the First's whispers became louder and louder, her grip tightened on the blade and the muscles in arms prepared to pull..._

  ...the blade artfully sliced through her skin and Dawn's hand shaked as she pulled the blade away from her wrist. Her body began to feel more weakened and the warm blood covered her arm like thick a blanket. Staring at her weapon of choice, Dawn leaned back against the wall of the bathtub and awaited the end. The First was still present, congratulating her on success, but Its voice became fainter as the seconds ticked by. Dawn was vaguely aware of any noise around her. 

   To her surprise the bathroom door flung open, startled, Dawn dropped the razor blade to the floor and stared up at the bleached blonde Vampire who had appeared in the doorway. She saw him but did not registrar who he was, her mind too far gone to recognize such a familiar face. "Bloody hell," the British voice cursed, "Niblet, what 'appened 'ere?"

   Finally her features showed recognition of the figure in front of her and she smiled cruelly at him, "Come on Spike." The words formed slowly on her tongue, "Come help me die faster, come taste my blood. Angelus seemed to enjoy it." 

"Aw, Niblet," Spike took a quick step towards her and came into view of the blade stained with her own blood, "What 'ave you done?" 

   The smell of Dawn's fresh blood stung Spike's nose and the demon inside, the demon that had massacred millions, was closer to the surface than ever before. Dawn's blood was fresh and sweet and despite his soul Spike found himself lusting to taste it, longing to have a drink. Spike stared horrifically at Dawn drawing himself away from the temptation that had filled his brain just as Dawn spoke.

"Just what it told me to Spike," the teen drawled innocently, "Its standing right there. Buffy told me to do it. I have to listen to Buffy. And mom." 

"Joyce is dead Niblet," Spike reminded her, "Bloody shame too. It's the First telling you these things. Don't listen to it though. Tells lies, that's all it does." 

"Not to me," Dawn insisted, "Not to me."  

   A pool of blood began to form on the floor as the blood dripped off of Dawn's arm and onto the tiles around her. Spike stared, not knowing what to do now. He didn't want to go downstairs in fear that if he did, when he returned Dawn would be dead, that it would be too late. He had to get Willow up here though. The witch could probably help, probably heal Dawn. The Vampire's mind raced as he watched Dawn slowly sink to the floor, unconscious. Spike kneeled next to her and checked her pulse on the side of her neck. She was alive, but barely. Dawn had already lost too much blood, what with Angelus feeding off of her, and now this. She wouldn't make the trip to the hospital alive and by the time an ambulance would arrive Dawn would be long dead. 

   Then, Spike remembered. The night Glory had tried to open the portal Willow had telepathically communicated with him. He wasn't a witch, and certainly didn't know any spells but maybe if he concentrated hard enough he could reach the witch in time. The First had begun to whisper in his ear but Spike didn't hear, Dawn was in danger and he had to save her or his promise to Buffy to keep her safe would be broken. He concentrated, called out to the witch downstairs as he kept his hand on Dawn's neck, reassuring himself that it was not too late and that they still had time to save her. 

_(Downstairs at the Hyperion.) _

  Willow felt a tug at her brain. She looked towards Xander, wondering if by any chance he was communicating with her, but he was talking furiously with Faith and Cordelia getting the lowdown on the Talisman. Dawn was sleeping and the two had come downstairs to get the 4-1-1 on what was happening with the research. 

_Red. _

 The voice in her head was very British and Willow looked around. Spike wasn't there. She remembered after a moment, Spike had gone off upstairs a while ago claiming to have heard some noise from upstairs. They had all passed it off as just Angel. Dawn was asleep, and even if she had awoken there was nothing in her immediate vicinity to make such a noise. Willow noted the urgency in Spike's tone in her brain and wondered if it had been a mistake ignoring his suspicion that something wasn't right. "What is it?" she spoke aloud even though she knew she didn't have to and the other turned to stare at her. 

_It's the Niblet. _

_  Hurry. _

   Willow's eyes widened. She barely registered the _Hurry _Spike had added afterwards. The minute he had referred to Dawn she was already halfway up the stairs. Her legs carrying her as fast as they could, something had happened to Dawn. The other called after her, but Willow ignored their words. She needed to get to Dawn. 

    The door to the room Fred had placed Dawn in was open and Willow noticed right away that Dawn wasn't in her bed; the smell of blood was thick in the air. She entered quickly and turned towards the bathroom door. Spike was there, hovering over an unconscious Dawn, her arm covered in her own blood. Willow rushed in, slipping on a pool of blood that had begun to form by Dawn's arm and fell to her knees. Spike had backed away and Willow stared at the girl. This was too much for her to handle. She looked to Spike for an explanation, but he didn't seem to want to give her one. "Can you fix her?" he asked. 

"I-I don't know," Willow replied. 

"Can't you use your bloody magicks?" Spike asked, "Cast a healing spell of the sorts?" 

"Will?" Xander's voice drifted to her from the doorway, "Dawn?" He appeared at the entrance to the bathroom and froze. It took him a second to react, "DAWN!" he rushed towards her and threw himself to the floor, lifting Dawn into his arms and leaned his head against Dawn's, "Oh god, Dawn. Not again. I can't go through this again. Willow, do something!" 

"What?" Willow asked. She felt insecure with everyone depending on her to save Dawn's life. All she had learnt over the years about Magick had seemed to have melted away in her brain the minute she had seen Dawn's body sprawled across the bathroom floor. It was just so hard to comprehend what was going on at that moment.  

"Find a spell," Xander instructed, "Make one up, just do something." The others had begun to gather in the room and Faith was now right by Xander's side feeling Dawn's pulse as Spike had done not long ago. 

"Shit," she swore, and Faith surprised Willow further by the panicked look that had crossed her face, but the Slayer quickly wiped it away and turned to the Witch, "Better work fast. Her pulse is slowing." 

   Willow stared at the group of people around her, looking at her with so much hope. Dawn was on the verge of death, again, for the second time in less than twenty four hours and now her life rested in Willow's hands. Suddenly, Willow felt herself grow stronger, her body felt warm all over and she knew what was happening. Tara was there, to help her do for Dawn what she had been unable to do for her. Latin words flashed through her mind and then she began mumbling a spell she didn't know. One hand over the wound Dawn had inflicted upon herself and the other over the girl's heart. 

    A golden light engulfed the room and a blue light emanated from her hands. Slightly unsure of what was happening Willow continued to chant as the words flowed swiftly across her tongue. Dawn's breaths began to become more regular and as Willow managed to glace down at Dawn's cut across her wrist, noticing that the blood seemed to be hovering above the wound and slowly trickling back into it. As the last words were spoken, the wound closed itself up, not a trace of the cut was left. Willow felt the energy drain out of her as closed her eyes and took deep breaths to recuperate, Tara's spirit was now gone. She hadn't had the chance to really rest after returning Angel's soul and this spell really had taken a lot out of her as well. 

     Dawn's eyes fluttered opened slowly. She blinked, taking in her surroundings and then closed her eyes again taking in three deep breaths before opening her eyes one more. Xander still held her close to him and she pulled away, turning her body so that she could look at him. Xander's features were covered with concern. Dawn seemed to try and shrink away from them all but they had surrounded her with their concern and she was trapped. "Dawn..." Xander offered her out his hand and Dawn managed to grasp it, Xander pulled her body close to his once again, "God, promise me you'll never ever do that again." 

"No, I don't need anymore 'Dawn's the slayer's sister, let's pretend to love her' crap," Dawn pushing herself away from Xander in a sudden fury and hugged her knees tightly, "Just...just leave me alone." 

"What's your problem?" Faith demanded, standing up, "The First shows up and tells you all sorts of crap and now we're the enemy? Dawn, you know I really don't give a fuck what Buffy thinks. You an' I both know that Buffy and I don't get along and probably never will. So, if you believe that I'm nice to you an' crap because you're Buffy's little sister you really are nuts." 

 Dawn looked up at Faith, her eyes twinkled with unshed tears and the two just stared at each other for a moment. Faith's brown eyes bore into Dawn's blue ones and the two seemed to come to an understanding. The things they needed to tell each other were not easily put into words, especially for Faith, and being in front of all these people didn't help either. They were sisters of the sorts. They knew things about each other that no one else could understand, not even Dawn's own sister. Maybe that was why they got along so well. They were sisters at heart, but not sisters by blood. Dawn loved Buffy; Buffy had done so much for her. She loved Faith too; sisters or not Dawn still considered Faith her sister as well. When through the silence all that was needed to be said between the two was said, Dawn looked down. 

  Xander tried to approach Dawn again and this time she let herself fall into his arms and stay there. Xander and Faith had both been there in the past and present when she needed them the most. She had to trust what they said and not betray them by believing what the First whispered to her. They loved her. Not just Faith and Xander but Buffy, Willow and the others as well. Even Spike or else he would've just as easily sucked her dry as he had called Willow for help. The warmth of Xander's body flooded through her and Dawn felt safe. She looked at her arm, not even a scar was left from her attempt at suicide and she looked over to Willow who was resting her eyes next to Dawn.  

"Thank you," Dawn whispered and Willow opened her eyes, "Thank you for saving me." 

"Well, you know, I had some help," Willow smiled at Spike first and then up at the ceiling, trying to see wherever it was Tara had gone. 

"I know," Dawn managed, "Thank you too Spike."  _And Tara she added silently. Dawn had felt Tara's presence in the room as well, she would tell Willow later but not with everyone else in the room. She knew that this was something only she and Willow had had the joy of sharing._

"Just don't tell anybody 'bout this," Spike warned, "'Aving this soul is bad 'nough to ruin a vamp's rep." 

"Let's not tell B about this incident," Faith suggested, "She's already going to flip at the whole Angelus bit. No need to give her more reason to a knife through my heart." The others nodded in agreement. 

"If that's settled maybe we should get Dawn back into bed?" Cordelia offered from the door where she Gunn, Fred, Wesley stood. Angel had still gone unnoticed by any of them from the door to the room, except Spike. Spike had smelt him but said nothing hoping that for Dawn's sake Angel would slip back to his room before she noticed.

   Xander started to help Dawn up, but being a Summer's and feeling much better now insisted that she could do it herself. As she approached the door Angel tried to duck away before Dawn noticed him, but he was a little late. "Angel," she voiced, "You going to avoid me forever?" 

"I was thinking I might," Angel nodded. The others were all on guard for the worst possible thing to happen. Angel and Dawn both shared the haunted, painful, expression. One monster had tortured them both. 

"I thought about it too," Dawn admitted, "But Angelus isn't you, I realize that. It's just...he's in you somewhere. You have his face and his voice and it's just...hard." Dawn's voice was strained, trying to get the words out and look at Angel without flinching at his resemblance to his alter-ego.

"I don't blame you," Angel stepped into the room, looked into the faces of his friends and Buffy's gang, "I would avoid me too. I try to avoid me. Dawn, you have to know though that I would never hurt you and the-the things Angelus told you. They're not true." 

"I know," Dawn's gaze fell to the floor, "But they're not thoughts that are new to me, most of them anyway. I-I thought a lot about the things that the First and Angelus told me even before tonight, but having someone I cared for tell them to me straight to my face, they just became real. They still feel real to me. I-I don't hate you Angel. I hate Angelus. I hate _that hidden part of you, the betrayer, the evil." Angel nodded in understanding. _

   A sudden wave of pain washed over to Dawn and she nearly fell to her knees on the floor. Angel caught her just in time and Dawn nearly pulled away at the closeness of him to her, but she knew if she did she would fall and more pain would ensue. So, Dawn allowed Angel and Faith to guide her to her bed and help her in. Within minutes Dawn was dreaming. 

_(Later.)_

    The dreams were a mix of nightmares and happy memories but the dark nightmares seemed to overpower the light and Dawn found herself reliving ever painful moment of her torture once again. She bolted upright in bed, waking up and wondered how long these nightmares would haunt her. To her dying grave would she have to remember that one horrible night of pain and sadness? Dawn knew immediately that she was not alone. That she would not be left alone for a long time. It was neither Xander nor Faith by her bedside, which surprised Dawn, but she was happy to see Willow dozing lightly in the wheelchair they had stolen from the hospital, the light in the room cast a shadow across her features. Being sure not to apply pressure to her broken arm Dawn adjusted her body in the bed and sucked in her breath at the pain shooting through her upper body. Willow woke up at the squeaks of the bed springs. "Hey," she whispered. 

"I felt her too," Dawn mentioned, in the moments before Willow had healed her Dawn had been so close to dying again and had been highly aware of Tara's presence in the room. 

"You did?" Willow wondered. 

"Yeah," Dawn assured the red head, "She must be in a good place, to be able to help out." 

"I-I just miss her so much," Willow admitted, and Dawn caught sight of the glisten in Willow's eyes. 

"I know," Dawn nodded, "I do too." 

"S-sometimes I don't think I can love anyone else like I loved her," Willow had moved over and now sat with Dawn on the bed, "I'm afraid that I'm leading Kennedy on. I mean, during out first kiss I turned into Warren. It can't mean anything good. And every time I do a spell I'm afraid I'll become evil Willow again, except tonight when Tara was with me and when I restored Angel's soul. Those were the two times when I cast a spell that I didn't feel any bit of evil surge through me." 

"Why when restoring Angel's soul?" Dawn asked. She liked that Willow was confiding in her. She knew that since Willow had returned from England she had been keeping things inside more often. It wasn't only Willow's introverted ways either that had kept the two from really communicating, it was Dawn as well. She had avoided Willow, just as she planned on avoiding Angel, for some time.  

"Because I remembered the first time I did it," Willow explained, "It was my first big spell, it was just so familiar to me and I remembered Oz being there by me when I did it and I was just able to do it without fear. I miss him too." 

"Oz?" Dawn wondered. It had been a long time since any of them had mentioned Oz. They all knew how Willow felt about Oz and how she had felt when he had left Sunnydale, permanently. It had been months before she was able to move on, and when she had it was Tara who she had turned to.  

"Yeah," Willow nodded, "I've thought of him a lot since Tara...died. Sometimes I think that if he ever came back I would want to be with him again, you know?" 

"I guess whoever said you only had 'one true love' was wrong," Dawn mused, "You have two. Tara and Oz." 

"Maybe you're right," Willow shrugged, "I mean; ever since I met Tara I've only been attracted to other girls, except Oz. I guess I'm just screwed up."   

"You're screwed up?" Dawn laughed, almost bitterly, "I'm seeing dead people who want me to kill myself. Why is the First so interested in me anyway?" 

"I don't know," Willow shrugged. Willow had not only sensed Tara when she was healing Dawn, but power. It was power beyond her comprehension. It was not the Key. Willow had felt the power of the Key before, this was something else. Willow did not want to mention it to anyone, not before she could figure out what this power was herself. There was no need to worry Buffy about something like this, not will all the Potential Slayers arriving in town and taking up residence in the Summers' home.  

  There was a knock at the door and both looked towards the entrance to the room as it creaked open slowly. Xander's head appeared first and then his body as he entered the room and closed the door behind him. He was trying very carefully not to wake either up, and then realized they were awake already. "Oh," he sighed, "Guess all the creeping in stuff wasn't necessary." 

"Nope," Dawn and Willow shook their head, smiling slightly at Xander.  

"Willow, you mind?" He nodded towards Dawn indicating that he wanted to talk to her alone. Willow shook her head and got up quickly waving to Dawn as she exited the room. 

   Once the door shut behind Willow, Xander took her seat on the bed. They sat quietly for a minute, taking in the silence of the hotel before Xander turned and looked at her, "How you feeling?" 

"Well, The First is gone for now and there's not so much pain when I stay still," Dawn smiled, Xander tried to keep his eyes focused on Dawn's eyes. He didn't want to see cut across her cheek although he mentally prayed that it would not leave a scar. 

"You up for a field trip?" Xander asked.

"Depends on how far from the bed you're taking me," Dawn replied. It was true she was feeling a lot better. After Willow had healed her the First had disappeared and her talk with Angel had helped her some. Other than the dreams, Dawn was able to block out the night before. She was able to act as normal as possible. It wasn't easy, but she managed. Being able to talk normally with Willow before and Xander now was a lot of help. Acting like everything was fine, that the evil was all something they could handle was like medicine. 

"Only downstairs," Xander informed her, "There's something I want to show you. Something that I think might cheer you up a bit." 

"Can I know what it is?" Dawn queried. 

"Not until we get there," Xander smirked, "I want it to be a surprise." Dawn smiled almost giddily at the mention of a surprise. 

"Wheelchair?" Xander wanted to know. Dawn shook her head profusely and sat up with her feet over the edge of the bed. Standing up slowly and using Xander as a support Dawn tried to shrug off the pain in her ankle and ribs. 

"I need to walk," Dawn said after a while, "I can't very well get wheeled into the house back in Sunnydale, and besides, it doesn't fit in the car." 

   Dawn's arm was wrapped around Xander's neck and his own around her waist as they walked out of the room. Carefully, they cleared the stairs with only a few small muttering of pain from Dawn and at the bottom she took his hand instead. The others were no where in sight. Dawn could hear they're voicing carrying over to her from somewhere nearby in the hotel, but they weren't in the room. Here there was just her and Xander. 

   Xander instructed her to close her eyes and Dawn muttered her complaints but complied with Xander's wishes. Closing her eyes she stood still and heard Xander walk off in the distance and then return. "Hold out your hand," Xander ordered. 

"This better be good," Dawn sighed, holding out her hand. Her other arm, the one with the cast, lay limply by her side and Xander placed a large metal object in her hand. A chain that was attached to it hung over the edge of Dawn's hand. It was a necklace of the sorts. As she waited for Xander's orders to open her eyes she groped the metal object in her hand with her thumb. 

"Open your eyes," Xander finale demanded. Dawn did and stared at the necklace. She looked at Xander confused. 

"It's a necklace," Dawn decaled, "A very, very old and magickal looking necklace. What do you want me to do with this?" 

"You're not going to do anything with it," Xander responded, "Buffy and either Angel or Spike are going to use it to get rid of the First." 

"Really?" Dawn's eyes lit up with hope. 

"Really," Xander assured, "There's a way to kill it or trap it. We don't know how to use it though. We're still trying to find out." 

  Dawn stared wistfully at the talisman. She held everything that they had hoped for since the First had arrived in town. A way to defeat it, this was how they were going to stop the first. Dawn smiled. This talisman would free her, would free them all, from the grasp of the First and save so many young girl's lives. Dawn held the talisman close to her heart. This was a _great_ surprise. 

   Then, she fainted. Xander caught her before she fell, tried to take the talisman out of her hands but Dawn seemed to have a death grip on it. Her breaths were normal; her pulse was beating as it should. Xander held her tightly. "Why her?" he asked out loud to the air. He did not call for the others he just held Dawn, he wanted to call for them but something told him not too. Dawn's eye lids fluttered and she moaned, not in pain, and Xander then knew she was dreaming. 

  Yet, Dawn was not dreaming, but the talisman had inflicted a vision onto the girl. And as Xander held her Dawn saw the Future. Dawn learnt of things that no one else knew, and that she did not want to know. In her slumber Dawn was receiving a prophecy. 

   _When Dawn opened her eyes she saw things she shouldn't have seen, knew things that were not for her to know, and yet she did. She stood, hovering in the air a light mist surrounding her and for mere moments Dawn thought she was dead. Yet, she could feel the beat of her heart and her steady breaths and knew that she was still very much alive. _

_  Without actually realizing what was happening Dawn looked down at the space below her and saw images that brought dread to her heart as much as some brought joy. She saw Sunnydale, and the high school, as well as Buffy, the Potentials and the rest of the Scooby Gang. She saw the First and the Tuork-Ahn, thousands upon thousands of the Ubervamps, and the Bringers. They were the two armies facing off. _

_   Then, there were flashes. Anya gutted, dead on the ground. Willow becoming a Goddess while Kennedy and Oz, the two people who loved Willow more than she would ever know, kept her grounded. She saw her and Xander fighting side by side to keep the Tuork-Ahn from escaping. Images of Potentials falling to their death, some nameless and others who Dawn recognized, had befriended shortly. Amanda with a sword through her heart, Kennedy, with the air of a slayer handing Buffy a scythe getting her head chopped off, dying a slayer, dying and taking her love for __Willow__ with her. _

_   The images came quickly and some had passed before Dawn could registrar what she was seeing below her. Slowly, the images seemed to slow and they almost stopped completely when Spike and Buffy held hands, a golden light shooting from the amulet on Spike's chest. The Slayer and her lover stood strong as the light killed the Ubervamps around them. The Potentials, turned slayers, were retreating. Faith was the last one out of the basement hesitating only slightly. _

_  Then, it was over. Sunnydale was gone, Buffy and Spike apparently gone with it. The injured were waiting helplessly in a bus. They had slayer healing now and were likely to survive. Others, like Wood needed to get a hospital and the aftermath was harsh. _

_The Fight was over. _

_  Dawn hovered, shocked by what she saw. Then, someone had joined her. Dawn turned, sensing the presence of another and saw her mother. She glowed as she had the night she had come to Dawn. 'But that was the First' Dawn reminded herself. __Willow__ had told her so. Joyce had not visited from the beyond. _

_"It was me Dawnie," her mother spoke, "And it is me now." _

_"Mommy," Dawn managed to find her voice in this strange plain, "Why me?" _

_"Because you're the only one Dawn," Joyce replied, "The only one who this can be shown to. You will do great things Dawnie; you will have a wonderful life. I know. That, is the Future, part of what is coming. There is more though. I cannot show you the rest, after what you did, what you almost did, I can't." _

_"What did you mean mom?" Dawn asked, "What did you mean by Buffy won't choose me?" _

_"There are things you won't understand for a long while Dawn," Joyce touched her daughter's cheek tenderly; "You are special. You always have been Dawnie. The Future will bring great things for you if you make the right choices." _

_"How do I know what's right?" Dawn wanted to cry, but there were no tears here in this place. _

_"You'll just know," Joyce replied, and then a scroll appeared in her mother's hand, "Take this Dawnie, and take it back with you. This will help in the battle." Joyce slowly began to fade, "And Dawnie, just remember that I love you and that Buffy loves you no matter what. When the final battle comes down even though Buffy won't choose you, believe that she loves you no matter what." _

_"Mommy, don't go," Dawn pleaded, sinking to her knees. _

_Dawn looked down one last time and saw a final stream of images before she was released from her vision. There was a girl, long brown hair, brown eyes, standing tall and staking a gang of vampires. The same girl, her hair shorter and dyed red, standing with two other girls, one with titian red hair and green eyes and another with brown hair and brown eyes. Each girl stood tall in battle and power surged through them. Then, Dawn saw one final image of the girl and knew who she was. She was THE Slayer. Not like the others, she was never a Potential, but had been born a Slayer. Other girls became Slayers when they showed Potential; this one had come into the world a Slayer. She had power above them all. She was THE __Chosen_. She was the last hope of the world.__

  Dawn gasped for air as she came back into the real world. The first thing she saw was Xander's brown eyes looking at her. His eyes were full of concern and worry, but above all she saw love in them. A love that she knew would protect her for years to come. She knew things now, things that she shouldn't know, things that she didn't want to know. Yet, only one thing gave her more hope than anything else she had known. This hope she had not found in the amulet or during the vision, but right that very moment looking into Xander's eyes. Buffy would not choose her, but Xander would. She didn't know how she knew but she did. 

"Dawn? Dawn are you alright?" Xander was asking. Dawn hadn't realized that Xander had been speaking until then. 

"I-I think I might be now," Dawn replied, and sat up. Xander's arm was still around her, his eyes still watching her every movement. Dawn then felt the scroll in hands and remembered what he mother had told her about it. She stared at the scroll in awe. It was real. "I had a...a vision. I saw parts of the Final Battle, and my mom. She-she gave me this, told me it would help." 

"You saw the Future?" Xander queried. 

"It's not so great Xand," Dawn admitted, "It's not the end of the world either." 

"Y'know what's written in there?" Xander wondered, nodding to the manuscripts in Dawn's hand.  

"No," Dawn shook her head, "Just that it's a prophecy or something." 

"Think we should get the others before we check it out?" Xander wanted to know. He watched Dawn closely, trying to read into her expression. Dawn didn't cease to notice that Xander was still holding her and how right it felt for him to do so. She was safe with him. 

"I don't know," Dawn sighed, "Xand what do I do? I'm afraid of what it says, of what's going to happen. Mom, she told me that she couldn't show me everything after what I did. I don't know what else there was to show me, but some of the stuff I saw was pretty bad." 

"Guess I'm not the only one who sees things now huh?" Xander mused jokingly. Dawn was comforted by Xander's spirit to try and turn her dreadful look into a smile, but she couldn't seem to do so. She knew too much. 

"Guess not," Dawn allowed and fingered the scroll. Then, Willow and Faith exited the kitchen and stopped when they saw Xander and Dawn on the floor in the middle of the lobby. At some point the amulet had fallen to the ground and Dawn sat in Xander's arms staring at the scroll. For the first time Dawn realized that she and Xander together like this must be a strange thing to behold. The thought was lost in her mind as she stared at Willow. She knew things that she wanted to forget. 

  Willow did not seem to notice Dawn watching her in sadness. Faith had noticed though and Xander, who had gotten to his feet, helping Dawn up in the process, had also caught on to Dawn's look. He was the only one who could put two and two together, the only one so far who knew of her "vision" and Dawn could only imagine what he thought. He thought Willow died.  

"What's happenin' here?" Faith questioned. 

"I was showing Dawn the talisman thing," Xander explained, and then looked at Dawn uncertainly, silently asking if he should say anything to them, "And she..." 

"I had a vision, sort of," Dawn cut Xander off, "I was holding the necklace and then I was out and..." 

"What was the vision of?" Willow asked. 

"The Future," Dawn replied bluntly. Willow's eyes widened, she looked at Dawn intently, waiting for her to say more, to tell them the details on what was to happen but Dawn remained silent. 

"What's with the scroll?" Faith shifted the topic of discussion over to the scroll Dawn held on to tightly. 

"My mom gave it to me in the vision," Dawn enlightened, "It's supposed to be a prophecy that'll help us..." 

"Did you open it yet?" Willow curiously questioned.

"No," Dawn then examined the scroll again; it was tied with a thin twine string and its paper was stained yellow from the years that it had survived through. This paper was supposed to help them defeat the First; it was their hope of winning. Dawn did not want to be the one to open it though, she had been the one to receive it but she wanted to leave the rest to someone else. 

   Looking between the three in the room, Buffy's friends and the rogue slayer, Dawn made her choice. Taking a deep breath she managed to ignore her rib pains and avoid putting pressure on her damaged ankle as she walked. She stood in front of Willow and Faith and held out the prophecy. "Willow, you do it." 

"Me?" Willow took the scroll from Dawn and looked at it in the same awe Dawn had. It was just a paper, but the contents held such importance. It was a burden as well as a joy to be the one to read it, to open it. If Dawn's vision had been right this held the answers they needed. 

"You," Dawn affirmed, "I don't want to do it. I want you to. Willow, you're going to do amazing things and this is yours to open." 

"I'm going to do amazing things?" Willow looked at Dawn, and the teen could not fully read the witch's expression. Dawn nodded in confirmation. 

"So, open it already!" Faith urged. 

"Wait, let me just take a minute to grasp what this paper means," Willow paused, "Maybe we should get the others here. Spike and Angel and...And the others, I mean I think they'd like to know about all this..." 

"I'm on it," Faith mentioned as she returned through the kitchen door her and Willow had came out of moment earlier. In the meantime, Willow made her way over to the couch in the lobby and say down, still staring at the scroll. 

   Dawn watched the witch a little longer before she felt Xander's hand touch her shoulder. Dawn turned and looked at Xander. His eyes pleaded with her to tell him everything she had seen. They begged her to assure him that Willow was going to be alright, that they all were. He had stood silently while Dawn had given Willow the scroll; he had taken everything in and waited for his moment to approach Dawn again. 

"Dawn..." he trailed off, knowing that Dawn knew what he was asking. 

"She really does do an amazing thing," Dawn muttered, "She used more magicks than she ever has and changed the world. It's not going to be enough. She loves really does Kennedy and Kennedy loves her, but that's not enough to...." 

"Oh, god," Xander's knees almost gave out beneath him, "I don't think...she can't..." Before either one could say anymore about Dawn's vision, Faith returned to the room followed by Spike, Wesley, Fred, Gunn, Conner, Cordelia and finally Angel. 

"S'what's this all 'bout?" Spike grunted, sipping a package of blood as he leaned against a wall, Angel stood as far away from the other Vamp as possible.  

"Dawnie had a vision," Willow explained, rejoining the group, "And she received this. It's supposed to be a prophecy." 

"Hey," Cordelia pouted, "I thought I was vision girl!" 

"You are," Dawn assured the ex-cheerleader, "I...my mom told me that it had to be me to see this...I saw parts of the final battle and then I got this." 

"Intriguing," Wesley commented, he walked over to Willow and looked the scroll over, "You actually received the prophecy in you vision and it transferred here. It's never happened before." 

"Well there's a first for everything," Gunn shrugged, "What does it say?" 

"We don't know yet," Willow spoke up again, "We haven't opened it yet." 

"Why bloody not?" Spike wondered. 

"Dawn wants me to open it and I thought it would be best if we were all here to-to read it," Willow encountered. 

"So are you going to open it now?" Fred asked shyly. Willow looked at the group and then back at the scroll. 

"Yeah, I am," Willow nodded. She pulled the string around the scroll and let it drop the floor. The group all crept forward, even Conner who seemed not to care at all about this. Angel lingered next to Faith and Cordy, Dawn held tightly onto Xander's hand, and Spike rested his hand on the Dawn's shoulder. Wesley stood next to the vampire with Fred and Gunn beside him, all held their breath as Willow slowly unrolled the scroll. Strange writing appeared, a different language and all felt disappointed raise in their hearts, the idea of research and translations made them all slightly regretful to actually opening it. Then, slowly the writing seemed to change, translating itself. They all watched carefully, as each and ever word changed languages and scripture. 

"Looks like we'll be here a while," Cordelia sighed. Then, the words seemed to registrar her voice and language and became English. "Wow, it's smart!" 

"Well, what does the thing say?" Conner wondered, speaking up for the first time since he had entered the room. 

"A whole lot," Willow replied, staring at the manuscript. 


End file.
